1965 in Ireland explained

Events in the year 1965 in Ireland.

Incumbents

• President: Éamon de Valera
• Taoiseach: Seán Lemass (FF)
• Tánaiste:
  • Seán MacEntee (FF) (until 21 April 1965)
  • Frank Aiken (FF) (from 21 April 1965)
• Minister for Finance:
  • James Ryan (FF) (until 21 April 1965)
  • Jack Lynch (FF) (from 21 April 1965)
  • Chief Justice: Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh Dáil:
  • 17th (until 11 March 1965)
  • 18th (from 21 April 1965)
• Seanad:
  • 10th (until 28 April 1965)
  • 11th (from 23 June 1965)

Events

• 14 January – Taoiseach Seán Lemass travelled to Belfast for a historic meeting with the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Terence O'Neill.
• 21 January – Nationalist leader Eddie McAteer visited Seán Lemass in Dublin.
• 28 February – Roger Casement (executed in Pentonville Prison in 1916) was honoured with a state funeral and reburial in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.
• 7 March – Changes to the Liturgy of the Catholic Mass were introduced. Mass was said in the vernacular (English) for the first time instead of in Latin.
• 18 March – The Northern Minister for Agriculture, Harry West attended a meeting with his Southern counterpart, Charles Haughey, in Dublin.
• 20 March – Ireland made its debut at the Eurovision Song Contest. Butch Moore sang Walking the Streets in the Rain and came sixth at the final in Naples.^[1]
• 7 April – 1965 Irish general election: The ruling Fianna Fáil party led by Seán Lemass gained a majority. This was the first Irish general election to be covered on television by state broadcaster Irish: [[RTÉ|Telefís Éireann]]. The Irish: [[Clann na Talmhan]] party did not contest the election and was wound up. Members of the 18th Dáil assembled on 21 April.
• 18 April – The Gaelic Athletic Association Congress in Dublin decided that the ban on foreign games was to remain.
• 21 April – James Dillon resigned as leader of the Fine Gael party following his election defeat. Liam Cosgrave was the new leader.
• 24 May – The first drive-on car ferry service between Rosslare Harbour in County Wexford and Fishguard in Wales officially opened.
• 13 June – Huge crowds turned out at Drumcliff Churchyard in County Sligo to honour the poet W. B. Yeats on the centenary of his birth.
• 8 July – Taoiseach Seán Lemass was conferred with an honorary Doctorate of Law at Trinity College Dublin.
• 26 July – Craigavon was designated as a New Town under the New Towns Act (Northern Ireland).
• July–September – Newspaper strike in Dublin
• 15 August – Galway Cathedral was dedicated.^[2]

Arts and literature

• Dominic Behan's biography My Brother Brendan was published.
• John McGahern's novel The Dark was published.
• Iris Murdoch's novel The Red and the Green, with an Easter Rising setting, was published.
• Dervla Murphy's first travel book, , was published.

Science and technology

• The Young Scientist Exhibition was held for the first time.

Births

• 18 January – Paudge Behan, actor
• 22 January – Denis Walsh, Cork Gaelic footballer and hurler.
• 22 February – Kieren Fallon, champion flat racing jockey.
• 28 February – Colum McCann, fiction writer.
• 10 March – Damien Hancock, association football referee.
• 17 March – Joe Cooney, Galway hurler.
• 24 March – John Commins, Galway hurler.
• 26 March – John McDonnell, association football player and manager.
• 30 April – Eddie McGoldrick, association football player born in England of Irish descent.
• 14 May – Eoin Colfer, author.
• 28 May – Mary Coughlan, Tánaiste and Fianna Fáil party Teachta Dála (TD) for Donegal South-West.
• 22 June – Enda McCallion, film director.
• June – Jim Cashman, Cork hurler.
• 1 July – Teddy McCarthy, Cork Gaelic footballer and hurler.
• 10 July – Dominic Hannigan, politician
• 30 July – Declan Carr, Tipperary hurler.
• 2 October – Keith Ridgway, writer.
• 8 October – Ardal O'Hanlon, comedian, actor and writer.
• 31 October – Denis Irwin, association football player.
• 10 November – Sean Hughes, comedian born in England of Irish parents (died 2017).
• 20 November – Diarmuid Wilson, Fianna Fáil party senator.
• 25 November – David Kelly, association footballer born in England of Irish descent.

Full date unknown

• Mike McCormack, novelist.

Deaths

• 7 January – Jimmy O'Dea, comedian (born 1899).
• 6 February – Tom Jameson, cricketer (born 1892).
• 10 February – Jim Hurley, veteran of the Irish War of Independence, Cork Gaelic footballer and hurler (born 1902).
• 15 February
  • Bill Britton, athlete (born 1890).
  • Sam Thompson, playwright (born 1916).
• 13 March – Patrick Giles, Fine Gael party TD (born 1899).
• 10 April – James Duhig, Archbishop of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane (born 1873).
• 12 June – Arthur Cox, solicitor, priest, nominated to 8th Seanad by the Taoiseach in 1954.
• 22 June – Piaras Béaslaí, member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, member of Dáil Éireann, author, playwright, biographer and translator (born 1881).
• 17 July – Frank Ryan, tenor (born 1900).
• 28 August – Richard Wyndham-Quin, 6th Earl of Dunraven, peer (born 1887).
• 11 September – Bethel Solomons, obstetrician and rugby player (born 1885).
• 26 September – James Fitzmaurice, pilot, aviation pioneer (born 1898).
• 12 November – Charles McCausland, cricketer (born 1898).
• 16 November – W. T. Cosgrave, first President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State (born 1880).
• 27 November – Francis MacManus, novelist (born 1909).
• 30 December – Henry George Farmer, musicologist (born 1882).

See also

• 1965 in Irish television

Notes and References

1. Web site: Final of Naples 1965 . European Broadcasting Union . 6 April 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210406182544/https://eurovision.tv/event/naples-1965/final . 6 April 2021 . live.
2. Web site: About Galway Cathedral. Galway Cathedral. 2012-07-17.