1917 in Ireland

Events

*February 3 - Count George Noble Plunkett, father of Joseph Mary Plunkett, wins Roscommon North on abstentionist Sinn Féin platform.
*March 7 - David Lloyd-George announces that Britain is ready to confer self-government to the parts of Ireland that wants it. The north-eastern part will not be "coerced".
*March 12 - In the British House of Commons, J. P. Farrell proposes that Ireland be excluded from the operation of the National Services Act.
*March 20 - A motion to reduce the salary of the British Prime Minister by £100 is introduced in the British House of Commons. It is a protest against the refusal to publish the proceedings of the 1916 Rising courts martial.
*May 10 - Sinn Féin candidate Joseph McGuinness wins a by-election in South-Longford against the Irish Parliamentary Party's candidate McKenna. It is a political disaster for John Redmond and his Party.
*May 16 - British Prime Minister, David Lloyd-George, announces that he wants immediate Home Rule for the 26 counties. Six north-eastern counties are to be excluded for a period of 5 years.
*June 16 - Oiler "Batoum" sunk by U-boat 6 miles south of Fastnet Rock.
*June 18 - Prisoners taken during the Easter Rising arrive at Dún Laoghaire by mail boat.
*July 10 - Éamon de Valera of Sinn Féin beats Patrick Lynch, a Home Rule candidate, in the East-Clare by-election. One Dublin Castle official calls it 'the most important election that has ever taken place, or ever will, in Irish history.'
*July 16 - The Round Room in the Mansion House is filled to capacity as the leaders of Sinn Féin demand the bodies of the Easter Rising leaders so that they can be given a Christian burial.
*July 25 - Large crowds assemble at College Green in Dublin as the Irish Convention meets for the first time.
*October 25 - 1,700 Sinn Féin delegates attend a convention in the Mansion House and De Valera replaced Arthur Griffith as the president of Sinn Féin

Arts and literature

port

Football

*Irish League::Winners: Glentoran

*Irish Cup::Winners: Glentoran 2 - 0 Belfast Celtic

Gaelic Games

:Football

:*Senior Football Championship Winners: Wexford :::Wexford 0-9 : 0-5 Clare

:Hurling

:*Senior Hurling Championship Winners: Dublin :::Dublin (Collegians) 5-4 : 4-2 Tipperary (Boherlahan)

Births

January to June

*15 February - Ruairi Brugha, Fianna Fáil TD, Member of the European Parliament, member of the Seanad (d.2006).
*3 March - Dave P. Tyndall, Jr., businessman (d.2006).
*17 March - Brian Boydell, composer, professor of music at Trinity College, Dublin (d.2000).
*23 March - Josef Locke, tenor (d.1999).
*27 March - Harry West, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party from 1974 to 1979, Stormont MP, Minister for Agriculture (d.2004).
*9 April - Vincent O'Brien, race horse trainer.
*14 April - Valerie Hobson, actress (d.1998).
*29 April - Paddy Ruschitzko, Laois hurler (d.2004).
*5 May - Jimmy Murray, Roscommon Gaelic footballer and All-Ireland winning captain (d.2007).
*17 June - Michael Moynihan, Irish Labour Party Senator and TD (d.2001).

July to December

*21 July - Simon Curley, cricketer (d.1989).
*15 August - Jack Lynch, former Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil (d.1999).
*1 October - Cahal Cardinal Daly, Cardinal, former Archbishop of Armagh.
*15 October - Kevin Boland, Fianna Fáil TD, served as Minister for Defence, Minister for Social Welfare and Minister for Local Government (d.2001).
*1 November - Michael O'Higgins, Fine Gael TD and Senator (d.2005).
*3 November - Conor Cruise O'Brien, newspaper editor, author, diplomat,Labour Party Teachta Dála and Cabinet Minister, Member of the European Parliament.
*11 November - Michael O'Riordan, veteran of the Spanish Civil War and founder of the Communist Party of Ireland (d.2006).
*27 December - Jimmy McAlinden, footballer and football manager (d.1993).

Full date unknown

*Maeve Brennan, short story writer and journalist (d.1993).
*Con Cottrell, Cork hurler (d.1982).
*Máirín Lynch, wife of Taoiseach Jack Lynch (d.2004).
*Havelock Nelson, composer and pianist (d.1996).

Deaths

*30 January - John McDonald, soldier and Congressman in America (b.1837).
*6 May - Thomas Joseph Carr, second Roman Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Australia (b.1839).
*10 May - Daniel Joseph Sheehan, Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Flying Corps pilot in World War I, killed in action (b.1894).
*9 June - William Hoey Kearney Redmond, nationalist politician, barrister, brother of John Redmond, killed in Battle of Messines (b.1861).
*31 July - Francis Ledwidge, poet, killed in action during World War I (b.1887).
*25 September - Thomas Ashe, took part in the Easter Rising, died following forcible feeding while on hunger strike (b.1885).
*4 October - Dave Gallaher, rugby player for New Zealand, killed at Passchendaele (b.1873).
*6 December - James Samuel Emerson, soldier, posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1917 on the Hindenberg Line north of La Vacquerie, France (b.1895).
*12 December - Charles Christopher Bowen, politician in New Zealand (b.1830).

Full date unknown

*William John Hennessy, artist (b.1839).