{{short description|none}} {{Use Hiberno-English|date=March 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}} {{YearInIrelandNav|1956}}
Events from the year '''1956 in Ireland'''.
==Incumbents== * President: Seán T. O'Kelly * Taoiseach: John A. Costello (FG) * Tánaiste: William Norton (Lab) * Minister for Finance: Gerard Sweetman (FG) * Chief Justice: Conor Maguire * Dáil: 15th * Seanad: 8th
==Events== * 15 February – Senator Owen Sheehy-Skeffington introduced a motion calling for the prohibition of all corporal punishment for girls in Irish national schools. * 2 April – President Seán T. O'Kelly unveiled a bust of politician, revolutionary, and suffragist Constance Markievicz in St Stephen's Green, Dublin. * 1 May – the Minister for Education Richard Mulcahy introduced the debate on a separate government department for the {{lang|ga|Gaeltacht}}. * 21 May – President Seán T. O'Kelly opened the first Cork International Film Festival. * 29 May – T. K. Whitaker was appointed new Secretary at the Department of Finance. * 12 August – The Gaelic Athletic Association postponed the All-Ireland Hurling and Football Finals due to an outbreak of polio. * 21 November – Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children was opened in Crumlin. * 30 November – Petrol rationing was due to be introduced from next January 1 due to the Suez Crisis. * 1 December – At the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, Ronnie Delany won Ireland's first Olympic gold medal for 24 years. * 12 December – The Irish Republican Army launched its Border Campaign in Northern Ireland<ref name="H&M">{{cite book|last1=Hanley|first1=Brian|last2=Miller|first2=Scott|title=The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party|location=Dublin|publisher=Penguin Ireland|year=2009|page=14}}</ref> with the bombing of a BBC relay transmitter in County Londonderry, burning of a courthouse in Magherafelt by a unit led by 18-year-old Seamus Costello,<ref name="H&M"/> and of an Ulster Special Constabulary post near Newry and blowing up of a half-built British Army barracks at Enniskillen. A raid on Gough Barracks in Armagh was beaten off after a brief exchange of fire. * Undated ** The second {{lang|ga|Coimisiún na Gaeltachta}} redefined the boundaries of the {{lang|ga|Gaeltacht}}. ** Robert Briscoe became the first Jewish Lord Mayor of Dublin.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/index.asp?locID=462&docID=2139|title=Speech by the Taoiseach on visit to the Jewish Museum, Dublin|author=Department of the Taoiseach|year=2006|work=The Irish Times|access-date=2008-03-09}}</ref>
==Arts and literature== * June – Painter Louis le Brocquy represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale. * Samuel Beckett's novel ''Malone Dies'' was published in English.
==Sport==
===Association football=== ;League of Ireland :Winners: St Patrick's Athletic
;FAI Cup :Winners: Shamrock Rovers 3–2 Cork Athletic.
==Births== * 1 January – John O'Donohue, poet and philosopher (died in 2008). * 16 January – Denis Moran, Kerry Gaelic footballer. * 17 January – Joe Hennessy, Kilkenny hurler. * 27 January – Joe Duffy, radio presenter. * 11 February – Pat Carroll, Offaly hurler (died 1986). * 13 February – Liam Brady, international soccer player. * 21 February – Johnny Crowley, Cork hurler. * 4 March – Ciarán Brennan, singer, songwriter, producer and instrumentalist. * 13 April – Jim Lynagh, Provisional Irish Republican Army member killed in an ambush by the Special Air Service during an attack on Loughgall RUC station (died in 1987). * 16 April – Paul Drechsler, businessman. * 29 April – Kevin Moran, Gaelic footballer and soccer player. * 30 April – Liam T. Cosgrave, Fine Gael politician, Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann 1996–1997 * 4 May – Steve Barron, film director and producer. * 5 May – Mary Coughlan, singer. * 9 May – Brendan Howlin, national school teacher, Labour Party TD for Wexford and cabinet minister. * 15 May – Pat Byrne, soccer player and manager. * 18 May – Pat Fleury, Offaly hurler, manager. * 21 May – Sean Kelly, cyclist and broadcaster. * 24 May – Michael Jackson, Church of Ireland Bishop of Clogher. * 28 May – John O'Donoghue, Fianna Fáil TD for Kerry South and Cabinet Minister. * 1 June – Brendan Smith, Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan–Monaghan and Minister of State. * 4 June – Gerry Ryan, RTÉ radio presenter. (Died in 2010) * 7 June – Marty Whelan, RTÉ radio and television presenter. * 1 July – Liz O'Donnell, Deputy Leader of the Progressive Democrats, TD and Minister of State. * 10 July – Frank Stapleton, soccer player and manager. * 12 July – Cathal Ó Searcaigh, poet. *August – Denis Mulcahy, Cork hurler. * 26 August – Dick Hooper, long-distance runner. * 5 September – Willie Mullins, jockey, racehorse trainer. * 4 October – Mary Kennedy, television presenter. * 13 October – Joe Connolly, Galway hurler. * 1 November – Charles Flanagan, Fine Gael TD for Laois–Offaly. * 5 November – Marita Conlon-McKenna, children's writer. * 4 December – Nia Griffith Welsh Labour Member of Parliament. * 19 December – Shane McEntee, Fine Gael TD for Meath East. *; Undated :* Patrick Cassidy, composer. :* Dorothy Cross, sculptor and installation artist. :* Frankie Gavin, fiddle and flute player. :* Alice Maher, painter and sculptor. :* Valerie Mulvin, architect. :* Tadhg Murphy, Cork hurler. :* Richie Reid, Kilkenny hurler. :* Fran Rooney, businessman.
==Deaths== * 30 January – Sir John Keane, 5th Baronet, barrister, member of Seanad Éireann (born in 1873). * 20 February – James Cousins, poet and writer (born in 1873). * 21 February – Louis Meldon, cricketer (born in 1886). * 13 March – Alfie Byrne, Irish Nationalist politician, served both as a Member of parliament in the British House of Commons and as a Teachta Dála in Dáil Éireann (born in 1882). * 18 March – Benjamin Glazer, Academy Award-winning writer, film producer and director (born in 1887). * 19 March – Matt Goff, Kildare Gaelic footballer (born in 1901). * 24 March – Bob Lambert, cricketer (born in 1874). * 20 April – Ida Mary Costello, wife of Taoiseach John A. Costello (born in 1891). * 17 May – John Tudor Gwynn, cricketer (born in 1881). * 22 May – Elizabeth Cronin, traditional singer (born in 1879). * 11 June – Seán Óg Murphy, Cork hurler, Gaelic Athletic Association administrator (born in 1892). * 23 July – Ella Young, poet (born in 1867). * 5 August – J. M. Andrews, second Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (born in 1871). * 23 September – Arthur Duff, composer and conductor (born in 1899). * 6 November – Leo Whelan, painter (born in 1892). * 19 November – Thomas Derrig, Fianna Fáil TD and Cabinet Minister (born in 1897). * 25 November – Robert Bruce Bowers, cricketer (born in 1897). * 11 December – Frederic Charles Dreyer, British Royal Navy Admiral (born in 1878). * 27 December – Lambert McKenna, Jesuit priest and writer (born in 1870). * Undated – Geoffrey Taylor, born Jeoffrey Phibbs, poet (born 1900 in England).
==References== <references /> {{Years in Ireland}} {{Year in Europe|1956}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:1956 in Ireland}} Category:1956 in Ireland Category:1950s in Ireland Ireland Category:Years of the 20th century in Ireland