| 77-84 |
Agricola, Roman governor of Britain, considers the conquest of Ireland. |
| c. 130-80 |
Ptolemy’s account of Ireland. |
| 300 |
High Kingdom established at Tara. |
| 350 |
Earliest Gaelic writings. Celtic raids on British coast. |
| 367 |
Major attack on Britain by the Irish, Picts, and Saxons. |
| 400 |
O’Neill dynasty founded in Ulster. |
| 431 |
Palladius sent as bishop to the Irish believing in Christ by Pope Celestine I. |
| 432 |
St Patrick’s mission to Ireland establishes Christianity and opens a golden era of religion, literature, education, and missions. |
| 433/4 |
Prosper of Aquitaine attributes the conversion of Ireland to Pope Celestine I. |
| c. 550-650 |
The flowering of monasticism in Ireland. |
| 563 |
Foundation of Iona by Columba. |
| 575 |
Convention of Druim Ceat. |
| c. 590 |
Columbanus begins his mission to the Continent. |
| 597 |
Death of Columba. |
| 615 |
Death of Columbanus at Bobbio. |
| c. 650-750 |
Writing of Irish canon and vernacular law in progress. |
| 663 |
Death of Guaire Aidni, Ui Fiachrach king of Connacht. |
| c. 670-700 |
Tirechan and Muirchu produce hagiographic works on St. Patrick. |
| 697 |
Synod of Birr and the proclamation of the ‘Law of the Innocents’. |
| 600-850 |
‘Golden Age’ Ireland’s classical phase of literature and arts. |
| 700 |
Brehon Laws define the ranks of kings, nobles, and commoners, and the rights and status of each --- based on a hierarchy and tribal pales. These laws remain until the plantation of Ulster in the early 1600s. |
| c. 700 |
The eastern Eoganacht become dominant in Munster. |
| c. 700 |
Writing of Crith Gablach (a law tract on status). |
| 704 |
Death of Adomnan, ninth abbot of Iona. |
| 721-42 |
Cathal mac Finguine king of Munster. |
| c. 725 |
Ui Briuin dynasty dominant in Connacht. |
| 734 |
Abdication of Flaithbertach mac Loingsig. Cenel Conaill now excluded from Ui Neill overkingship. |
| 743 |
Clann Cholmain first take the overkingship of the Ui Neill. |
| c. 750 |
Completion of Collectio canonum Hibernensis. |
| c. 750-850 |
Armagh comes under Ui Neill control. |
| 793 |
Vikings raid Lindisfarne. Arti mac Cathail ordained king of Munster. |
| 795 |
Viking raids on Iona, Rathlin, Inishmurray, and Inishbofin. |
| 802 |
Iona burned by the Vikings. |
| c. 800 |
The Ui Neill dominate north Leinster. |
| 800 |
Ireland’s most famous antiquity, the Book of Kells, is illuminated. |
| 800-1000 |
Viking raids penetrate deeper inland. Cities of Dublin, Cork, and Waterford are founded. |
| 804 |
Aed Oirnide of the Ui Neill ordained overking of the Ui Neill by the abbot of Armagh. |
| 806 |
Sixty-eight members of the Iona community killed by the Vikings. |
| 807 |
Construction of the monastery of Kells begun. |
| 820-47 |
Feidlimid mac Crimthainn king of Munster. |
| 836 |
Viking raids penetrate deep inland. |
| 837 |
Large Viking fleets appear on the Boyne and the Liffey. |
| 840-1 |
A Viking fleet overwinters on Lough Neagh. |
| 841-42 |
A Viking fleet overwinters in Dublin. |
| 842 |
First reported Viking-Irish alliance. |
| 845 |
Forannan, abbot of Armagh, captured by the Vikings. |
| 846-62 |
Reign of Mael Sechnaill I, powerful overking of the Ui Neill. |
| 866 |
Aed Finnliath clears the northern coastline of Viking bases. |
| 914 |
A great Viking fleet arrives in Waterford and the beginning of the second period of raids. |
| 919 |
Niall Glundub, overking of the Ui Neill, killed in the battle of Dublin. |
| c. 950 |
Close of the second period of Viking raids. |
| 956-80 |
Domnall ua Neill overking of the Ui Neill. |
| 980 |
Mael Sechnaill II becomes overking of the Ui Neill. |
| 975-1014 |
Brian Boru king of Munster at Tara, latterly of Ireland. |
| 997 |
Brian Boru and Mael Sechnaill II divide Ireland between them. |
| 999 |
Brian Boru defeats the Leinstermen and the Ostmen at the battle of Glenn Mama. Sitric Silkenbeard, king of Dublin, submits to him. |
|
|
| 1002-14 |
Brian Boru reigns as king of Ireland. |
| 1014 |
Vikings defeated at Clontarf, ending their influence. Death of Brian Boru during the battle. |
| 1022 |
Death of Mael Sechnaill II, overking of the Ui Neill. |
| 1086-1119 |
Muirchertach O’Brien king of Munster and claimant to the kingship of Ireland (1093-1114). |
|
|
| 1101 |
Synod of Cashel, Muirchertach O’Brien grants Cashel to the church as the seat of a metropolitan. |
| 1106-56 |
Turlough O’Connor king of Connacht and claimant to the ‘high kingship’ of Ireland. |
| 1111 |
Synod of Rath Breasail. Ireland divided into territorial dioceses under two metropolitans. |
| 1134 |
Consecration of Cormac’s Chapel at Cashel. |
| 1142 |
Foundation of the first Cistercian house in Ireland (at Mellifont). |
| 1152 |
Synod of Kells-Mellifont. A national church organization with four metropolitans, under the primacy of Armagh. |
| 1154 |
Henry II of England obtains a papal bull enabling him to possess Ireland as part of the crown inheritance. |
| 1166 |
Death of Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn, ‘high-king’ of Ireland. Dermot MacMurrough, king of Leinster, driven overseas. Seeks help of Henry II and recruits Cambro-Norman knights. |
| 1169 |
Arrival of FitzStephen, FitzGerald, and others. Wexford taken, Dermot restored to kingship of Leinster. |
| 1169-1172 |
Norman invasion sealed by Strongbow coming from Wales. Henry II declared King of Ireland. |
| 1170 |
Marriage of Strongbow to Dermot’s daughter Aoife. Siege and capture of Dublin. Invasion of Meath. |
| 1171 |
Death of Dermot. Strongbow lord of Leinster. Arrival of Henry II. Submission of Irish bishops and most Irish kings. |
| 1172 |
Second Synod of Cashel. Grant of Meath to Hugh de Lacy. Henry leaves. |
| 1172-1250 |
Normans become the ‘Old English,’ but integrate into Irish culture and society completely. |
| 1175 |
Treaty of Windsor between Henry II and Rory O’Connor, high-king of Ireland, who agrees to rule unoccupied territory as a vassal. |
| 1176 |
Death of Strongbow. |
| 1177 |
Conquest of Ulaid by John de Courcy, Council of Oxford: Prince John made lord of Ireland, speculative grants of kingdoms of Cork and Limerick to Norman vassals. |
| 1185 |
Prince John’s first visit to Ireland. Occupation of lands in Limerick begun by Theobald Walter, William de Burgh, and Philip of Worcester. |
|
|
| c. 1200 |
Start of Classical Irish period in literature, lasting until 1600. |
| 1210 |
King John’s second visit to Ireland. Confiscation of the earldom of Ulster and honour of Limerick. Submission of Irish kings. |
| 1235 |
Final conquest of Connacht by Richard be Burgh. Five ‘King’s Cantreds’ reserved for O’Connor. |
| 1257 |
Death of Maurice FitzGeral; his lordship of Sligo ravaged by Godfrey O’Donnell, king of Tir Conaill. Normans in Thomond defeated by Conor O’Brien and his son, Tadhg. |
| 1258 |
Meeting of Caol-Uisce on the Erne between Aodh son of O’Connor, Tadhg son of O’Brien, and Brian O’neill, self-styled ‘King of the kings of Ireland’. |
| 1260 |
Battle of Down: defeat and death of Brian O’Neill. |
| 1261 |
Battle of Callan: John fitz Thomas of Desmond and his heir defeated and killed by Finghin MacCarthy, himself slain later that year. |
| 1263 |
Earldom of Ulster, long vacant, bestowed on Walter de Burgh, lord of Connacht. |
| 1276 |
Hereditary lordship of all Thomond granted to Thomas de Clare. |
| 1292 |
Custody of rents, homage’s, and services of all Crown tenants English and Irish in the Decies and Desmond granted to Thomas fitz Maurice of Desmond. |
| 1315-1318 |
Invasion from Scotland by Edward Bruce in league with the O’Neills. After occupation of Ulster and declaration of himself as King of Ireland, Bruce is killed in battle and the invasion defeated. |
| 1316 |
Battle of Athenry; rebellious Irish chiefs of Connacht defeated and killed. |
| 1318 |
Battle of Dysert O’Dea: Richard de Clare defeated and killed by O’brien. Battle of Faughart: Edward Bruce defeated and killed. |
| 1333 |
Murder of William de Burgh, earl of Ulster. Crown loses control of Anglo-Norman Connacht and the Irish chiefs in Ulster. |
| 1361 |
Arrival of English expedition under Prince Lionel of Clarence, earl of Ulster, to stem decline of colony. |
| 1366 |
The Statutes of Kilkenny. For fear that the Normans are becoming too Irish, the Statutes are adopted, forbidding Normans to take on the manners, fashion, and language of the Irish enemies. Intermarriage declared illegal, as is admitting and Irish storyteller into the house. In effect for two centuries. Punishment could mean confiscation of land. |
| 1394-95 |
King Richard II’s first expedition to Ireland. Defeat of Leinster Irish under Art MacMurrough, and submission of nearly all Irish and rebel English chiefs. |
| 1398 |
Death of Roger Mortimer in war against Leinster Irish. |
| 1399 |
King Richard II’s second expedition to Ireland, with inconclusive results. |
|
|
| 1414-47 |
Prolonged struggle between the factions of James Butler, fourth earl of Ormond, and John Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, for control of royal government in Ireland. |
| 1449-50 |
Richard duke of York in Ireland as king’s lieutenant. Submission of many Irish chiefs and English rebels. |
|
|
| 1459-60 |
Duke of York’s second visit to Ireland. Parliament meeting at Drogheda upholds his authority against Henry VI and an English Act of Attainder. |
| 1467-8 |
Edward IV appoints Tiptoft, earl of Worcester, Lord Deputy in place of Thomas FitzGerald, earl of Desmond, subsequently executed for treason. Munster rebels. |
| 1478-9 |
Anglo-Irish opposition frustrates Edward IV’s attempt to appoint Lord Grey as Deputy in place of Geral Mor FitzGerald, eighth earl of Kildare. |
| 1487 |
Earl of Kildare has Lambert Simnel crowned as Edward VI in Christchurch cathedral, Dublin. |
| 1494 |
In the wake of Anglo-Irish support for Perkin Warbeck, Henry VII dismisses Kildare (1492) and sends Sir Edward Poynings as Lord Deputy. ‘Poynings’ Law’ makes all past legislation of the English parliament applicable to Ireland, and requires the king’s approval for all future summons of the Anglo-Irish parliament and contents of its legislation. |
| 1496 |
Kildare reappointed. |
|
|
| 1504 |
Battle of Knocktoe: by defeating Burke of Clanricard, O’Brien, and the Irish of Ormond, Kildare completes his dominance of Ireland, Irish and Anglo-Irish. |
| 1509 |
Accession of Henry VIII. |
| 1510-1550 |
The Reformation in Europe. Ireland remains Catholic. |
| 1513 |
Death of Gerald FitzGerald, eighth earl of Kildare and Lord Deputy of Ireland, succeeded by his son Gerald the ninth earl, who also becomes Lord Deputy of Ireland. |
| 1520 |
Thomas Howard, earl of Surry, appointed as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland instead of Kildare. |
| 1522 |
Piers Butler, eighth earl of Ormond, appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland. |
| 1524 |
Royal commission resolves differences between Ormond and Kildare and restores Kildare to the office of Lord Deputy. |
| 1529 |
Appointment of Sir William Skeffington as royal commissioner. |
| 1533/4 |
Lord Deputy Kildare summoned to court and leaves his son Lord Offaly (Silken Thomas Fitzgerald) as vice-deputy. |
| 1534 |
Kildare placed in tower where he dies; outbreak of rebellion led by Lord Offaly. |
| 1534-6 |
Continuing revolt in Ireland; fall of Maynooth Castle, arrest of Lord Offaly (by now tenth earl of Kildare), and he and his five uncles brought to England. |
| 1536-7 |
Meeting of the Irish Reformation Parliament; execution of Kildare and his five uncles at Tyburn. |
| 1537-1541 |
Henry VIII declared King of Ireland by Irish Parliament, and appoints himself head of the Church of Ireland. |
| 1540 |
Sir Anthony St Leger appointed as governor of Ireland. |
|
|
| 1541-3 |
Meeting of parliament which declares Henry VIII to be king of Ireland; launching of ‘surrender and re-grant’ programme. |
| 1547 |
Death of Henry VIII, accession of Edward VI. |
| 1548-53 |
Inauguration of garrison policy to surround the Pale with fortified positions; pursued by successive governors Sir Edward Bellingham, Sir Anthony st Leger, and Sir James Croft. |
| 1553 |
Death of Edward VI; accession of Mary I. |
| 1553-1558 |
Queen Mary (Bloody Mary) restores Catholicism in England. |
| 1556-64 |
Thomas Radcliffe, earl of Sussex, serves as governor in Ireland. |
| 1557-8 |
Queen Mary establishment of a military ‘plantation’ confiscating Counties Laois (Leix) and-Offaly; murder of Matthew O’Neill, baron of Dungannon; launching of a military campaign in Ulster to uphold ‘surrender and re-grant’ arrangements. |
| 1558 |
Death of Mary I; accession of Elizabeth I. |
| 1560 |
Elizabeth I restores Protestantism in England. |
| 1560 |
Meeting of the second Irish Reformation Parliament which approves the Elizabethan church settlement for Ireland. |
| 1561-4 |
Sussex pursues intermittent military campaigns against Shane O’Neill and encounters opposition to financial exaction’s from within the English Pale. |
| 1565 |
Death of Shane O’Neill. |
| 1565-71 |
Sir Henry Sidney serves for his first period as governor of Ireland. |
| 1566-7 |
Sidney launches military campaign in Ulster which produces the killing of Shane O’Neill; he attempts to restore government authority in Munster by arresting the earl of Desmond. |
| 1569-71 |
Meeting of parliament in Dublin which declares the entire lordship of Tyrone forfeited to the Crown; appointment of first provincial presidents in Connacht and in Munster; launching of private colonization ventures in Munster and in Ulster; outburst of local revolts in Munster, in Leinster, and in Connacht against government policy. |
| 1570 |
Elizabeth declared excommunicated by the papacy. |
| 1571-5 |
Sir William FitzWilliam serves for his first period as governor of Ireland. |
| 1572 |
Sir John Perrott and Sir Edward Fitton regain authority as presidents respectively of Munster and Connacht by bringing rebels to surrender. |
| 1573-4 |
Private colonization ventures in Ulster continue even without the consent of FitzWilliam. |
| 1575 |
Sir fJames Fitz Maurice FitzGerald departs from Ireland to seek Catholic support in Continental Europe for continued opposition to the government. |
| 1575-8 |
Sir Henry Sidney serves for second period of governor of Ireland. |
| 1576 |
Sidney launches an apparently conciliatory policy and brings private colonization to a close. The earl of Essex, the last of the private colonizers, dies in Dublin. |
|
|
| 1577 |
The government attempts to increase its revenue from Ireland by the imposition of a land tax and encounters strident opposition from the Pale community. |
| 1578 |
Sidney surrenders his position as governor and leaves Ireland in the belief that his government has been undermined by lawyers in the Pale. |
| 1579 |
James Fitz Maurice FitzGerald accompanied by the English Jesuit Micholas establish themselves near Dingle, Co. Kerry. Sir John of Desmond, brother to the earl of Desmond, murders Henry Davells, an English official, and Desmond is forced by his subordinates to make common cause with the rebellion. |
| 1580 |
The rebellion in Munster is joined by a second revolt in Leinster led by James Eustace, Viscount Baltinglass, and Feagh Mac hugh O’Byrne and supported by discontented Palesmen who profess themselves free from allegiance to a Catholic monarch. Arthur Lord Grey de Wilton is appointed governor to deal with the dual revolt and has his army defeated at Glenmalure in Wicklow but ousts the Continental force from Smerwick. |
| 1580-98 |
Edmund Spenser in Munster. |
| 1582-3 |
Systematic suppression of rebel forces in Leinster and Munster culminating in the killing of the earl of Desmond. |
| 1584-8 |
Sir John Perrott serves as governor of Ireland. |
| 1584 |
Provincial councils reconstituted in Munster and Connacht. |
| 1585 |
Meeting of parliament in Dublin which proceeds with the attainder of Desmond and his supporters, and the confiscation of their property. A commission in England devises a scheme for the distribution of the confiscated Munster property and the establishment of a plantation. The president of Connacht devises the Composition of Connacht; and Hugh O’Neill, baron of Dungannon, created earl of Tyrone. |
| 1585-7 |
Grantees of Munster Plantation lands assume possession of their properties; Perrott experiences increasing difficulty in dealing with his English Protestant officials who consider him excessively lenient in his treatment of Catholic recusants. |
| 1586 |
Eochaidh O hEodhusa appointed file to Maguire of Fermanagh. |
| 1588-94 |
Sir William FitzWilliam serves as governor for the second time. |
| 1588 |
The Spanish Armada defeated. |
| 1589-90 |
Sir Richard Bingham, president of Connacht, seeks by force to extend the authority of the government into northern Connacht and the southern reaches of Ulster. |
| 1591 |
Red Hugh O’Donnell seeks to expel all English officials from the lordship of Tyrconnell, and he and Hugh Maguire oppose the imposition of Composition arrangements on their respective territories. |
| 1591 |
Trinity College established in Dublin. |
| 1593-4 |
Opposition to government intervention in Ulster intensifies but Tyrone remains loyal even though his brothers have engaged in rebellion. |
| 1594-1603 |
Nine Years’ War with rising of O’Donnell and O’Neill in Ulster. |
| 1595 |
Death of Turlough O’Neill provides Tyrone with the opportunity to assume the Gaelic title of O’Neill. Tyrone then also enters into rebellion and with Red Hugh O’Donnell opens negotiations for support from Spain. |
| 1596 |
Edmund Spenser completes A View of the Present State of Ireland. |
| 1596-7 |
Ulster rebellion intensifies and is imitated by dissatisfied lords in Leinster and Connacht. |
| 1598 |
Major defeat of government forces in Ulster at the Yellow ford; rebellion extends into Munster and the plantation is overthrown. |
| 1599 |
Robert Devereux, earl of Essex, appointed to suppress the rebellion. Dissipates his energies and agrees on truce with Tyrone. |
|
|
| 1600 |
Appointment of Charles Blount, Baron Mountjoy, as governor, and intensification of the government effort to suppress the Ulster revolt. |
| 1602 |
Arrival of Spanish military support at Kinsale where it is joined by a rebel army from Ulster. Decisive victory for the government forces at Kinsale. |
| 1603 |
Death of Elizabeth; accession of James VI and I and surrender of Tyrone to Mountjoy; towns seek formal acceptance of Catholic worship. |
| 1603 |
Belfast founded on Chichester grant. |
| 1605 |
Sir Arthur Chichester appointed as governor; proclamation declaring all persons in Ireland to be free subjects of the king; proclamation expelling Jesuits and seminary priests from Ireland; pressure on Dublin merchant community to conform in religion. |
| 1606 |
Foundation of St Anthony’s Franciscan College, Louvain; government efforts to dismember Ulster lordships through judicial investigation. |
| 1607 |
Government investigation of Ulster lordships intensifies; the earls of Tyrone, Tyrconnell, and others abandon the country and are proclaimed traitors. O’Neills leave for the Continent in the ‘Flight of the Earls’. |
| 1608 |
Revolt of Sir Cahir O’Doherty; government decision to plant six Ulster counties. |
| 1609-10 |
Government proceeds with scheme for the plantation of the six Ulster counties, former O’Neill lands by Lowland Scots and English. |
| 1610-30 |
Geoffrey Keating working on Foras Feasa ar Eirinn. |
| 1610 |
Desiderius by Flaithri O Maolchonaire. |
| 1611 |
Publication of Bonaventura O hEodhasa, An Teagasg Criosdaidhe (Antwerp). |
| 1612 |
Publication of Sir John Davies, A discovery of the True Causes Why Ireland was never entirely subdued. |
| 1612 |
Derry given to London guilds and merchants to exploit and fortify under the name of the Honourable Irish Society. |
|
|
| 1613-15 |
Meeting of Irish parliament, which endorses the plantation scheme in Ulster, and provides for increased representation of the settler population in future parliaments. Meeting of Convocation of the state church which adopts 104 articles of faith. |
| 1614-1618 |
Derry walled. |
| 1616 |
Death in Rome of Hugh O’Neill, earl of Tyrone. |
| 1621 |
Plantation scheme revealed for settlement of portion of the Irish midlands. |
| 1622 |
Comprehensive survey of the Irish church and government and of all plantations established in Ireland. |
| 1625 |
Death of James I; succession of Charles I. |
| 1626 |
Charles I offers ‘Graces’ to his Irish subjects in return for subsidies. This provides for the tacit toleration of Catholicism in Ireland, thus vexing his Protestant subjects. |
| 1628 |
Charles I formally issues the Graces; undertakers in the Ulster plantation permitted to retain ‘natives’ as tenants. |
| 1629 |
Government temporarily in control of Viscount Loftus and the earl of Cork, who attempt suppression of Catholic worship in Dublin. |
| 1632-6 |
Compilation of Annala Rioghachta Eireann (Annals of the Four Masters). |
| 1633-41 |
Thomas, Viscount Wentworth (created earl of Strafford 1640) serves a governor in Ireland. |
| 1634-5 |
Irish parliament convened and Wentworth reveals his intention to proceed with a plantation of Connacht and to disregard the Graces. |
| 1635 |
Wentworth takes measures to establish Crown title to the province of Connacht. |
| 1637 |
Wentworth takes measures to consolidate and maintain discipline over the state church in Ireland. |
| 1639 |
Scots Covenanters oppose the extension of an episcopal form of church government to Scotland, and Wentworth seeks to have Scots settlers in Ulster swear their allegiance to the king. |
| 1640 |
Wentworth (now earl of Strafford) convenes Irish parliament, which resists him once he has left the country, remonstrating against his rule. |
| 1641 |
Strafford tried, convicted, and executed in England on a charge of treason, outbreak of rising in Ulster; Ireland lapses into political chaos. |
| 1641-1653 |
Peasant Rising in Ulster joined by Owen Roe O’Neill returning from Continent. Oliver Cromwell campaign results in massacres and confiscation of two and a half million acres of land. Irish are forced west of the river Shannon to ‘Hell or Connaught’. |
| 1642 |
English parliament seeks for the suppression of the Irish rising through the ‘Adventurers Act’; Scots Covenanter army under Robert fMonro lands in Ulster (April); Owen Roe O’Neill arrives from the Spanish Netherlands to form the Ulster Catholic army (July); civil war between king and parliament commences in England; Catholic Confederacy assembles at Kilkenny. |
|
|
| 1643 |
Overtures proceed between the Confederacy and the king. |
| 1644-5 |
Ireland remains in chaos while Archbishop Rinuccini arrives from the Papacy to provide direction to the rising. |
| 1646 |
Forces of Owen Roe O’Neill defeat those of Monro at Benburb, Co. Tyrone (June) but fail to capitalize on the victory; Rinuccini attempts to prevent the Confederate Catholics from coming to terms with a Protestant monarch; publication of Sir John Temple’s The Irish Rebellion. |
| 1647 |
Forces of parliament dominant in English civil war; Dublin conceded by Ormond to a parliamentary force. |
| 1649 |
Execution of Charles I; arrival of Cromwell in Ireland and sieges of Drogheda and Wesford (Sept.-Oct.); death of Owen Roe O’Neill (Nov.). |
| c. 1650 |
Parlaimint Chlainne Tomais (Parliament of Clan Thomas) completed; An Siogai Romhanach (The Roman Fairy). |
| 1650-2 |
Continuation of Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. |
| 1653 |
Surveys commence for Cromwellian plantation. |
| 1654-5 |
Cromwellian plantation implemented. |
| 1658 |
Death of Oliver Cromwell. |
| 1660 |
Restoration of Charles II; declares he will uphold the Cromwellian conquest and restore property to ‘innocent papists’. |
| 1661 |
Reconstitution of an episcopal state church in Ireland; commission investigates Irish land ownership. |
| 1662 |
Duke of Ormond appointed governor of Ireland; commission hears claims for Irish lands. |
| 1663 |
Duke of Ormond appointed governor of Ireland; commission hears claims for Irish lands. |
| 1663 |
Closure of court of claims for Irish lands, its business unfinished. |
| 1665 |
‘Act of Explanation’ obliging Cromwellian grantees to surrender one-third of their lands to provide for ‘innocents’ who had been dispossessed. |
| 1670 |
Synod of Catholic bishops meets in Dublin. |
| 1678 |
Titus Oates plot in England; moves against Catholic public worship in Ireland. |
| 1681 |
Execution of Oliver Plunkett, Catholic archbishop of Armagh. |
| 1684 |
Establishment of the Dublin Philosophical Society by William Molyneux. |
| 1685 |
Death of Charles II. James II, a Catholic, ascends British throne. He is dispossessed, flees England after William of Orange takes over. |
| 1687 |
Richard Talbot, earl of Tyrconnell, appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland and sets about replacing Protestant officials with Catholics. |
| 1688 |
Birth of a son to wife of James II (June); ‘invitation’ to Prince William of Orange and his wife Mary (daughter to James II) to accept the throne of England; flight of James II to France (Dec.). |
| 1689 |
William III and Mary II enthroned as joint monarchs; James II arrives in Kinsale from France (Mar.); siege of Derry underway and relief provided by Williamite forces (July). Catholic ‘parliament’ underway in Dublin. |
|
|
| 1689-1691 |
Jacobite war between James II and William of Orange on Irish soil. Siege of Derry by James unsuccessful. |
| 1690 |
William III arrives near Carrickfergus; defeats forces of James at the Boyne (July); James flees to France and William takes Dublin. Sieges of Athlone and Limerick fail but Williamite courts in Dublin commence hearings against those who fought against William III. |
| 1691 |
Athlone taken by Williamite forces; Jacobite army defeated at Aughrim (July); Galway and Limerick taken (Sept.). Irish officers permitted to go to France. Treaty of Limerick signed (Oct.) end war. |
| 1695 |
‘Flight of the Wild Geese’ as bulk of Irish Army goes to the Continent. |
| 1695 |
Acts restricting rights of Catholics in education, arms-bearing, and horse owning; Catholic clergy banished. |
| 1695-1725 |
Penal Laws enacted to crush Catholics and Catholicism. Restrictions on Irish trade. Irish woollen industry crippled by England. |
| 1698 |
Death of Daibhi O Bruadair. |
| 1699 |
Acts restricting Irish woollen exports. |
|
|
| 1700-1800 |
Presbyterians in Ulster come under some of the Penal Laws and begin a mass Scotch-Irish exodus to America. |
| 1703 |
Parlaimint no mBan (Parliament of Women). |
| 1704 |
Legislation restricting rights of Catholics in landholding and public offices (by means of ‘tests’). |
| 1710-1795 |
Ribbonmen, Poop-o’-Day Boys, Volunteers, and other secret organizations form up and night-ride in vicious peasant land wars. |
| 1710 |
Stair Eamuinn Ui Chleire. |
| 1713 |
Jonathan Swift becomes dean of St Patrick’s. |
| 1719 |
Toleration Act for Protestant Dissenters. |
| 1720 |
‘Sixth of George I’: Declaratory Act giving Westminster parliament the right to legislate for Ireland. |
| 1724 |
William Wood granted patent to mint copper halfpence for Ireland, provoking Swift’s Drapier’s Letters. |
| 1726 |
Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift. |
| 1728 |
Act removing franchise from Catholics. Death of Aogan O Rathaille. |
| 1731 |
Founding of Charter Schools. |
| 1738 |
Death of Turlough Carolan. |
| 1750 |
‘Dublin Society’ (later Royal Dublin Society) founded. |
| 1758 |
Wide Streets Commission appointed to oversee development of Dublin. |
| 1762-72 |
Viceroyalty of Townshend. |
| 1768 |
Octennial Act limiting duration of Irish parliaments. |
| 1772 |
Relief Act allows Catholics to lease bogland. |
| 1778 |
Relief Act allows Catholics leasehold and inheritance rights. |
|
|
| 1780 |
Colonial trade opened to Irish goods, following Volunteers’ campaign. |
| c. 1780 |
Cuirt an Mhean Oiche (The Midnight Court), by Brian Merriman. |
| 1782-1800 |
Penal Laws relaxed. Grattan’s Parliament in Dublin compels Westminster to abrogate its authority to legislate for Ireland and gains Irish autonomy. |
| 1782 |
Volunteers call for legislative independence at Dungannon convention (Feb.); Rockingham government in Britain brings to power an administration favourable to Irish claims; Relief Acts allow Catholics to own freeholds outside parliamentary boroughs and gives access to educational rights (May-July); repeal of ‘Sixth of GeorgeI’ and amendment of Poynings’ Law (June). Catholic colleges reopened, using English language. |
| 1784 |
Death of Eoghan Rua O Suilleabhain. |
| 1789 |
Reliques of Irish Poetry, by Charlotte Brooke. |
| 1791 |
Theobald Wolfe Tone’s Argument on behalf of the Catholics of Ireland (Aug.); foundation of society of United Irishmen in Belfast and-later-Dublin (Oct.). |
| 1792 |
Relief Act admits Catholics to the practice of the law. Belfast Harp Festival. |
| 1793 |
Volunteers suppressed and arms movements restricted (Feb.-Mar.); Relief Act admits Catholics to parliamentary franchise (Apr.); Irish Militia established (Apr.). |
| 1794 |
Dublin United Irishmen suppressed. |
| 1795 |
Earl Fitzwilliam arrives as Lord-Lieutenant (Jan.) and dismissed (Feb.); Catholic seminary established at Maynooth (June); Orange Order founded (Sept.). |
| 1795 |
Battle of the Diamond fought outside Armagh by Catholic Volunteers and the victorious Protestant Peep-o’-Day Boys. The Orange Order is formed to celebrate. |
| 1796 |
Insurrection Act (Mar.) and suspension of habeas corpus (Oct.); French invasion force in Bantry Bay (Dec.). |
| 1798 |
Martial law imposed (Mar.); rebellion in Wexford (May); Humbert lands in Killala (Aug.); United Irish Rising crushed; Tone arrested and dies (Nov.). |
|
|
| 1800 |
Act of Union under British Prime Minister Pitt forces Irish Parliament to dissolve and Ireland to become part of the United Kingdom; Castle Rackrent, by Maria Edgeworth. |
| 1803 |
Unsuccessful rising by Robert Emmet’s. Emmet immortalizes himself in his speech from the dock before his execution. |
| 1822 |
Irish Constabulary Act (setting up county police forces and salaried magistracy). |
| 1823-1843 |
The era of Daniel O’Connell in which emancipation is won for the Catholics. |
| 1823 |
Catholic Association founded. |
|
|
| 1824 |
Free Trade in manufactured articles established between Britain and Ireland. |
| 1825 |
Catholic Emancipation bill rejected by house of Lords. |
| 1826 |
Waterford electors reject Beresford family’s nominee. |
| 1828 |
|
| 1829 |
Catholic Emancipation Act permits Catholics to sit in parliament; forty shilling freeholders disenfranchised. |
| 1831 |
Introduction of ‘national’ system of elementary education. |
| 1832 |
Irish Tithe Compostion Act. |
| 1833 |
Irish Church Temporalities Act. |
| 1835 |
‘Lichfield House Compact’ between O’Connell, Whigs, and radicals. |
| 1838 |
Foundation of Father Mathew’s Temperance movement. |
| 1840 |
Foundation of Repeal Association (Apr.); Irish Municipal Reform Act (Aug.). |
| 1843 |
Repeal meeting at Clontarf prohibited and cancelled. |
| 1845 |
Maynooth endowment spectacularly increased (June); potatoe blight first noticed (Sept.). |
| 1845 |
Queen’s College founded in Belfast. |
| 1845-1848 |
Young Ireland movement founded. Young Ireland Rising fails. |
| 1845--1850 |
Crop failure, British landlordism, and governmental incompetence result in famine. A million Irish peasants die by hunger and disease and another million flee, mainly to America. |
| 1846 |
Repeal of Corn Laws (June); Russell and new Whig government decide not to intervene in Irish grain market (Aug.). |
| 1847 |
Foundation of Irish Confederation. |
| 1848 |
Abortive rising at Ballingarry. |
| 1849 |
Encumbered Estates Act, facilitating sale of land. |
| 1850 |
Irish Reform Act trebles county electorate and reduces borough electorate. Tenant League founded. |
| 1856 |
‘Phoenix Society’ (a precursor of the Fenian movement) founded at Skibbereen. |
| 1858-1867 |
The era of the Fenians, a secret organization with heavy Irish-American backing. The Fenian Rising fails. |
| 1859 |
‘Fenian Brotherhood’, a sister organization, established in USA. |
| 1860 |
Publication of William Carleton’s Collected Works (Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, 1830). |
| 1866 |
Archbishop Paul Cullen becomes the first Irish cardinal. |
| 1867 |
Attempted Fenian rising. |
| 1869 |
Disestablishment of the Anglican Church as the Church of Ireland by W.E. Gladstone. Land reforms enacted. |
| 1870 |
Gladstone’s first Land Act, recognizing tenant right (Aug.); foundation of Home Government Association by Isaac Butt (Sept.). |
|
|
| 1873 |
Home Rule League founded. |
| 1877-1891 |
The era of Charles Stewart Parnell as ‘uncrowned King of Ireland’. Parnell becomes a major political for by attaining leadership of the Irish Party in Westminster, Parnell elected president of Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain, leading the fight for the abolition of the Act of Union to be replaced by Irish Home Rule. Parnell is destroyed in a divorce scandal and succumbs without reaching his goals. |
| 1878 |
Fenian ‘New Departure’ initiated by Davitt and Devoy. |
| 1878-1880 |
Standish O’Grady’s ‘History of Ireland: Heroic Period’. |
| 1879 |
Irish National Land League founded. |
| 1880 |
Parnell elected chairman of Irish Parliamentary Party. |
| 1881 |
Ladies’ Land League founded; Land Act introduces judicial fixing of rents (scope extended 1882, 1887), and ‘No Rent Manifesto’ issued by imprisoned nationalist leaders. |
| 1882 |
Irish National League replaces proscribed Land League; chief secretary and under-secretary assassinated by Invincibles in Phoenix Park. |
| 1884 |
Franchise extended by ‘Mud Cabin Act’; Gaelic Athletic Association founded, which not only revives the old games but proves a boon to nationalism. |
| 1885 |
Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union founded (1891: Irish Unionist Alliance) formed to fight Gladstone’s Home Rule.. |
| 1886 |
Catholic hierarchy endorses Home Rule after Gladstone’s ‘conversion’; Government of Ireland bill defeated in Commons; ‘Plan of Campaign’ initiated and proscribed. |
| 1889 |
O’Shea names Parnell as co-respondent in divorce petition. |
| 1890 |
Gladstone’s threat to resign if Parnell remains leader, followed by hierarchy’s denunciation of Parnell and his repudiation by his part (Dec.). |
| 1891 |
Anti-Parnellite Irish National Federation formed, followed by Parnell’s death; land purchase extended and Congested Districts Board founded. |
| 1893 |
Gaelic League formed as forerunner of the cultural revival which becomes extremely nationalistic in character; second Government of Ireland bill defeated in Lords. The Celtic Twilight, by W.B. Yeats. |
| 1894 |
Foundation of Irish Agricultural Organization Society and Irish Trades Union Congress. |
| 1895 |
The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde. |
| 1896 |
Women qualified as poor law electors. |
| 1898 |
United Irish League founded; Local Government (Ireland) Act applies parliamentary franchise to local elections, extending vote to some women. |
| 1899-1904 |
Arthur Griffith founds the Republican paper, The United Irishman, and later, Sinn Fein political party. |
| 1899 |
Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland established. |
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|
| 1900 |
Redmond elected chairman of Irish Parliamentary Party and United Irish League. |
| 1900 |
First publication by Irish Texts Society: Poems of Keating. |
| 1902 |
Land Conference representing nationalists and landlords, followed (1903) by Wyndham’s Land Purchase Act. Cathleen ni Houlihan, by W.B. Yeats. |
| 1903 |
Formation of Griffith’s National Council and Sloan’s Independent Orange Order. Poets and Dreamers, by Lady Gregory. |
| 1904 |
Irish Reform Association founded to promote ‘devolution’. John Bull’s Other Island, by G.B. Shaw. |
| 1905 |
Formation of Ulster Unionist Council and Irish Industrial Development Association; reorganization, under Redmondite Board of Erin, of Ancient Order of Hibernians. |
| 1907 |
Dockers’ strike and riots in Belfast; Irish Councils bill dropped. Rioting at opening week of the The Playboy of the Western World, by J.M. Synge. |
| 1908 |
Foundation of Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union and Griffith’s Sinn Féin; Acts for Old Age Pensions and Irish Universities. |
| 1909 |
First compulsory powers of land purchase enacted. |
| 1910 |
O’Brien’s All-for-Ireland League founded. |
| 1911 |
National Insurance introduced; Lords’ veto on major legislation abolished. |
| 1912 |
Asquith’s introduction of third Government of Ireland bill; Catholic workers expelled from Belfast shipyards; Ulster Covenants signed on ‘Ulster Day’ (28 Sept.). Parlaimint Chlainne Tomáis reissued. |
| 1912-1914 |
The Third Home Rule Bill passes. Protestant Ulster holds Covenant Day, declaring an Act of Covenant of loyalty to Britain. Protestants arm and run guns into province. Home Rule Bill suspended by beginning of World War I. |
| 1913 |
Successive formation of Ulster Volunteer Force, Irish Citizens Army, and Irish (National) Volunteers; Dublin strikes and lock-out. |
| 1914 |
Illegal importation of arms by Ulster Volunteers (Apr.) and Irish Volunteers (July, Aug.); collapse of Buckingham Palace conference just before outbreak of European war; Redmond’s futile attempts to reconstitute Irish Volunteers as home defence force (Aug.) and Irish Division (Sept.), followed by creation of 36th (Ulster) Division formed by Ulster Volunteers, enactment and suspension of Home Rule (Sept.); split in Irish Volunteers, and first plans for rising. |
| 1915 |
Irish Republican Brotherhood reorganized and Military Council formed (Dec.). |
| 1916 |
Irish Republic proclaimed in Dublin (24 Apr.), followed by martial law, rebel surrender (29 Apr.), imprisonment’s, and fifteen executions; Battle of Somme, shattering Ulster Division; Lloyd George’s futile attempt to implement Home Rule with exclusion of six counties. ‘Easter 1916’ written by W.B. Yeats; privately circulated; published 1920. |
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|
| 1917 |
Ineffectual Irish Convention; reorganization of Sinn Féin and Irish Volunteers (Oct.). |
| 1917-1921 |
Sinn Fein wins election. Republic declared. De Valera named President. Lloyd George rejects Irish claim and Anglo-Irish War ensues with Black and Tan terror. |
| 1918 |
Headquarters staff formed for Irish Volunteers; hierarchy’s opposition to extension to Ireland of conscription linked to Sinn Féinn and nationalist opposition (Apr.); arrest of republican leaders in ‘German Plot’; republican success at general election (Dec.), allowing formation of Dáil Éireann the following month. |
| 1919 |
De Valera’s attempt to get recognition of Irish claim by Peace Conference, followed by his eighteen-month tour of USA. |
| 1920 |
Better Government of Ireland Act introduces partition between two Home Rule states; riots in Derry and Belfast, revival of Ulster Volunteers, and expulsion of Catholic shipyard workers followed by Republican ‘Belfast Boycott’; reorganization of police, suspension of judicial process and habeas corpus, followed by partial martial law; sporadic violence and ambushes, culminating in Dublin’s ‘Bloody Sunday’ (Nov.) and burning of central Cork (Dec.). |
| 1921 |
Ulster Parliament opens. Irish delegation goes to London and a truce is declared. The Irish Dail rejects the terms and after further negotiations a Treaty is signed by Michael Collins after an ultimatum by Lloyd George. De Valera repudiates Treaty. |
| 1921 |
Craig’s victory in first elections in Northern Ireland (NI); truce between republicans and Crown forces, followed by meetings of Lloyd George and de Valera, peace conference, and Anglo-Irish ‘Treaty’ (6 Dec.). |
| 1922 |
Treaty narrowly approved by Dáil and formation of provisional government under Collins (Jan.); convention of anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army, their occupation of Dublin buildings, and failure of peace negotiations; ‘Special Powers’ given to NI police (Apr.) to quell sectarian conflict; ‘Pact’ election followed by arrest of anti-Treaty leaders and outbreak of civil war (June); National Army given emergency powers, reinforced after murder of Collins; ‘Irregulars’ excommunicated by hierarchy; summary executions of 77 republicans; Irish Free State inaugurated and Northern Ireland excluded from it (Dec.). Ulysses, by James Joyce. |
| 1922 |
In Ulster B-Specials are formed and Special Powers enacted. |
| 1923 |
Irregulars ordered to cease hostilities and dump arms (Apr., May); Cosgrave’s Cumann na nGaedheal founded; Free State admitted to League of Nations; remaining tenanted land vested in Land Commission (as in NI, 1925). |
|
|
| 1923-1925 |
Civil War ends with thousands of Anti-Treaty men and women interned. Ulster ends proportional representation, begins gerrymandering, and refuses to change borders. |
| 1924 |
National Army reorganization, cut-back, and mutiny. |
| 1925 |
Northern nationalists enter NI Commons; Boundary Commission collapses and partition confirmed by tripartite agreement. |
| 1926 |
De Valera leaves Sinn Féin and founds Fianna Fáil Party; ‘Balfour Declaration’ at Imperial conference proclaims Commonwealth co-partnership. Rioting at opening of The Plough and the Stars, by Seán O’Casey. |
| 1927 |
O’Higgins assassinated; Fianna Fáil enters Dáil. |
| 1929 |
Proportional representation abolished in NI parliamentary elections (as in local elections, 1922); censorship of publications centralized in IFS. An tOileánach (The Islandmand) by Tomás O Criomhthain. |
| 1930 |
Irish Labour Party separates from Trades Union Congress. |
| 1931 |
Banning of IRA in IFS; autonomy of Free state extended by Statue to Westminister. |
| 1932 |
De Valera replaces Cosgrave as president of Executive Council; ‘tariff war’ provoked by his withholding land annuities from British Exchequer; Belfast riots demanding more outdoor relief from Poor Law guardians (abolished in IFS, 1923). Land annuities to Britain cancelled and Treaty renounced. All of Ireland claimed, and oath to the Crown is abolished. This leads to a trade and economic war with England. |
| 1933 |
Blueshirts (National Guard) formed from Army Comrades’ Association, and proscribed; United Ireland Party (Fine Gael) formed under Blueshirt leader O’Duffy; oath of fidelity and right of appeal to privy council abolished. |
| 1934 |
O’Duffy’s resignation allows Cosgrave’s reinstatement as Fine Gael leader. The Blueshirts, a quasi-fascist movement, makes a brief and unsuccessful appearance. |
| 1935 |
Importation to IFS and sale of contraceptives banned; Belfast disturbances. |
| 1936 |
IFS Senate abolished; IRA proscribed by de Valera; Governor General eliminated under External Relations Act. |
| 1937 |
Constitution of Éire replaces IFS constitution of 1922. |
| 1938 |
Agreement between de Valera and Chamberlain to end tariff dispute and return ‘Treaty ports’ to Éire; UK guarantee to subsidize NI social welfare payments to British levels. |
| 1939 |
IRA bombing campaign in Britain, and raid on Magazine Fort in Phoenix Park; Éire’s declaration of neutrality implemented after outbreak of war (Sept.). Death of W.B. Yeats. |
| 1940 |
Deaths of IRA hunger-strikers in Éire; joint Anglo-Irish military consultations; covert imposition of economic sanctions by UK against Éire. |
| 1941 |
Worst German air-raids in Belfast and Dublin. Death of James Joyce. |
| 1942 |
The Great Hunger, by Patrick Kavanagh. |
| 1944 |
Split in Irish Labour Party (healed 1950); American attempt to have Axis legations in Dublin closed. |
|
|
| 1945 |
Congress of Irish Unions formed after split in Trades Union Congress. |
| 1946 |
NI National Insurance aligned with British system. |
| 1947 |
Universal secondary schooling enacted in NI. |
| 1948 |
National Health Service introduced in NI; Irish Republic enacted (inaugurated Apr. 1949) after Costello’s repeal of External Relations Act. |
| 1949 |
The Republic of Ireland is declared, damaging claims to the six counties of Ulster Ireland Act, giving UK’s assurance to NI that partition would be perpetuated. Cré na Cille, by Máirtin O Cadhain. |
| 1951 |
Minister for Health resigns after hierarchy’s campaign against Mother and Child Scheme (similar scheme put through by de Valera, 1953). |
| 1952 |
Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett. |
| 1954 |
IRA attacks in Armagh; The Quare Fellow, by Brendan Behan. |
| 1955 |
Republic admitted to United Nations Organization. |
| 1956-62 |
Border campaigns against the Ulster border are badly conceived and end in failure. |
| 1958 |
First programme for Economic Expansion in Republic (others in 1963-64, 1969). |
| 1959 |
Split healed with formation of Irish Congress of Trade Unions. |
| 1961 |
Republic’s unsuccessful application to join European Economic Community (repeated 1967). |
| 1963 |
Hillery’s plan for universal secondary education in Republic. |
| 1964 |
Riots at Divis Flats in Belfast. Terence O’Neill elected Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Civil Rights movement founded in Dungannon. First meetings of Lemass and O’Neill raise vain hopes of reconciliation; McAteer’s Nationalist Party becomes official opposition at Stormont Castle. |
| 1966 |
Anglo-Irish Free Trade agreement. Paisley agitation against Civil Righters heightens. O’Neill invokes Special Powers Act after Malvern Street murder of Catholics by outlawed Ulster Volunteer Force. |
| 1967 |
Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association founded. |
| 1968 |
Clash in Derry between CRA and police; O’Neill’s programme for eliminating anti Catholic discrimination in local government, housing, and franchise. Civil Rights movement snowballs. Royal Ulster Constabulary baton charge at Derry gains world attention. |
| 1969 |
People’s Democracy march from Belfast to Derry (Jan.); first in series of Belfast explosions (Mar.) and deaths in ‘Troubles’ (July); army drafted to NI after Protestant ‘siege’ of Bogside (Derry) following Apprentice Boys’ parade (Aug.); reform of central and local franchise in NI (Dec.). Paisley mob attacks Civil Rights march at Burntollet Bridge, B-Specials mobilized. Orange and Apprentice Boys parades incite riots. Constabulary and B-Specials beaten in the Battle of Bogside. Riots in Belfast, Catholics burned out in Ardoyne, O’Neill resigns. |
| 1970 |
Provisional Sinn Féin formed after split, reflecting similar split in IRA; initially multi-sectarian Ulster Defence Regiment replaces B Specials (formed 1920); Social Democratic and Labour Party formed from moderate nationalist groups. |
|
|
| 1971 |
Internment reintroduced; Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party founded. First British soldiers killed by execution. Chichester-Clark resigns. |
| 1972 |
‘Direct Rule’ imposed after episodes such as Derry’s ‘Bloody Sunday’ (Jan.) in which soldiers killed thirteen CRA marchers, and bombing of Aldershot barracks; eleven killed in ‘Bloody Friday’ explosions caused by Belfast IRA (July); ‘special position’ of Catholic church expunged from Republic’s constitution. Stormont government falls to direct rule from London. William Whitelaw named Supremo by Heath. Ulster reels under bomb campaign by IRA. Sectarian murders begun by Protestants in revenge. Twenty thousand British troops in Ulster. Operation Motorman breaks barricades as British troops enter Free Derry. |
| 1973 |
Republic and UK (including NI) enter EEC; proportional representation restored for NI local elections; Northern Ireland Assembly created, power-sharing executive agreed, and tripartite Sunningdale conference held. Proposals for new governmental alignment accepted by middle-of-the-road parties on both sides. Catholic and Protestant extremists vow to destroy the plan. De Valera retires as President of the Republic. Lynch government falls to Fianna Gael-Labour Coalition. Erskine Childers, a Protestant and son of a Republican martyr, elected President of the Republic. Coucil of Ireland, with extremely limited powers, agreed upon by North and South. Catholic/Protestant power-sharing coalition initiated November 21 in Ulster with Brian Faulkner as leader. Militant wing of Unionist Party rejects coalition and bolts, leaving government badly weakened. |
| 1974 |
Unionists leave Assembly (Jan.), general strike organized by Ulster Workers’ Council (May), and direct rule reimposed (May); multiple killings in Dublin explosions (May) and Guildford and Birmingham pub bombings (Nov., Dec.). Militant Protestants sweep election. Bernadette Devlin ousted. Labour Party returns to power in England. Harold Wilson again Prime Minister. Dublin bombed without warning. Militants from Ulster suspected. General strike by Ulster Protestants brings down coalition. Direct rule reinvoked by Harold Wilson. Swedish Academy names Sean MacBride Nobel Peace Laureate. |
| 1975 |
Northern Ireland Convention convened; NI internment suspended (abolished 1980). New Supremo, Merlyn Rees, fails to stabilize Ulster. IRA intensifies bomb campaigns in England in effort to have British public opinion force government to remove troops from Ulster. De Valera dies. |
| 1976 |
Convention collapses; British ambassador in Dublin killed; Republic’s Emergency Powers Act referred to Supreme Court by president, who was subsequently forced to resign. North, by Seamus Heaney. Ulster situation continues to deteriorate, with failure of all attempts at reconciliation, power sharing, or coalition. Province edges closer to civil war. |
| 1978 |
Twelve killed by Provisionals’ fire-bombs in Down restaurant. |
| 1979 |
Earl Mountbatten and relatives killed in Sligo and eight soldiers killed at Warrenpoint (Down), in August; relaxation of Republic’s ban of contraceptives. |
|
|
| 1980 |
Founding of Aosdána. Brian Friel’s ‘Translations’ performed by Field Day Company, Derry. |
| 1981 |
Death of Republican hunger-strikers followed by collapse of Provisionals’ strategy of ‘H-block’ protests. |
| 1982 |
Multiple killings of soldiers at Knightsbridge (July) and Ballykelly, Co. Londonderry (Dec.). |
| 1983 |
Futile All-Ireland Forum; referendum approves constitutional ban on abortion in Republic. |
| 1984 |
Irishmen south of the border and nationalists in the North have traditionally called the town and county Derry, its original name. After Scottish and English Protestants settled the area under a charter from James I early in the seventeenth century, they changed the name to Londonderry, in honour of the London company that had organized the so-called Plantation. The newer name is the official one in Northern Ireland and Britain as well as the name recognized by Unionists. In 1984, however, the City Council of Londonderry voted to formally remove London from its name. Partly, perhaps, as a result of this, the name Derry seems to be growing in popularity throughout the community. |
| 1985 |
Anglo-Irish Agreement at Hillsborough, generating bitter Protestant protest. |
| 1986 |
Referendum confirms Republic’s constitutional ban on divorce. |
| 1987 |
Eleven killed before Enniskillen service for Remembrance Sunday. |
| 1989 |
Fianna Fáil form coalition government for the first time in their history following general election. Their partners are the Progressive Democrats, Charles Haughey remains Taoiseach. |
| 1990 |
Republic of Ireland reach quarter-finals of the soccer world cup in Italy under the management of Jack Charlton. |
| 1990 |
Mary Robinson elected seventh President of Ireland, the first woman to hold the office. |
| 1992 |
Dr. Eamon Casey, bishop of Galway, flees country after it was revealed that he had fathered a child in the course of an affair nearly twenty years previously. The first of a succession of sexual scandals that eroded the authority of the Catholic Church in the course of the decade. |
| 1994 |
IRA and Loyalist paramilitary groups announce ceasefire. |
| 1996 |
In the Republic of Ireland, a constitutional referendum to permit civil divorce and re-marriage is carried narrowly. |
| 1996 |
End of IRA ceasefire. |
| 1997 |
Following Labour victory in British general election, Dr. Marjorie (Mo) Mowland appointed first woman Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. |
| 1997 |
Fianna Fáil-PD coalition under Bertie Ahern replaces Rainbow coalition (Fine Gael, Labour, Democratic Left) following general election in the Republic. |
| 1997 |
IRA declare a resumption of the 1994 ceasefire (July). |
