1941 in Ireland

Events from the year 1941 in Ireland.

← 1940 1939 1938 1937 1936 1941 in Ireland → 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s
See also:	1941 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1941 List of years in Ireland

Incumbents

• President: Douglas Hyde
• Taoiseach: Éamon de Valera (FF)
• Tánaiste: Seán T. O'Kelly (FF)
• Minister for Finance: Seán T. O'Kelly (FF)
• Chief Justice: Timothy Sullivan
• Dáil: 10th
• Seanad: 3rd

Events

January

• 2 January – Three Carlow women were killed in a night of German bombing in parts of Leinster.
• 3 January – Further German bombing of Dublin.
• 13 January – The novelist and poet James Joyce died in Zürich.
• 24 January – Part of the old State Chambers in Dublin Castle were destroyed by fire.

February

• 20 February – The emergency Scientific Research Bureau was set up to seek alternatives to raw materials in short supply.^[1]
• 21 February – The first flight by a British Royal Air Force (RAF) flying boat took place through the "Donegal Corridor", Irish airspace between its base in Northern Ireland and the Atlantic Ocean, a concession secretly agreed by Éamon de Valera.^[2]

March

• 6 March – 3,800 animals were slaughtered after the 50th case of foot-and-mouth disease was announced.
• 20 March – Bread rationing was introduced.
• 21 March – The Glencullen (Capt. T. Waldron) and Glencree (Capt. D. McLean) were machine-gunned by the Luftwaffe in the Bristol Channel.^[3]
• 22 March: 16:00 hours – The collier St. Fintan (Capt. N. Hendry) was attacked by two Luftwaffe bombers off the coast of Pembrokeshire in Wales and sank with all hands – nine dead.^[3]
• 26 March – The Edenvale (Capt. T. Tyrrell) was bombed and machine-gunned by the Luftwaffe in the Bristol Channel.^[3]
• 27 March – The Lady Belle (Capt. T. Donohue) was bombed and machine-gunned by the Luftwaffe in the Irish Sea.^[3]

April

• 2 April – The Edenvale (Capt. T. Tyrrell) was bombed and machine-gunned (again) by the Luftwaffe in the Bristol Channel.^[3]
• 15 April – Belfast Blitz: A thousand people were killed in bombing raids on Belfast. Seventy-one firemen with 13 fire tenders from Dundalk, Drogheda, Dublin and Dún Laoghaire crossed the Irish border to assist their Belfast colleagues.
• 18 April – An RAF Handley Page Hampden aircraft (Registration AD730)^[4][5] got lost in bad weather and crashed on Black Hill (Kilbeg)^[6] above the village of Lacken, County Wicklow killing its entire crew of four.

May

• 5 May – Belfast suffered its third bombing raid during World War II. The Dublin government authorised its emergency services to assist.
• 7 May – Wages Standstill Order.^[1]
• 12 May – The Menapia (Capt C Bobels) was bombed and machine-gunned by the Luftwaffe off the Welsh coast: Two were wounded.^[3]
• 14 May – Five further outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease were reported.
• 17 May – The Glenageary (Capt R. Simpson) was bombed and machine-gunned by the Luftwaffe in the Irish Sea.^[3]
• 19 May – The City of Waterford (Capt. W. Gibbons) was bombed and machine-gunned by the Luftwaffe off the Welsh coast: one person was wounded.^[3]
• 26 May – A special sitting of Dáil Éireann unanimously condemned the introduction of conscription in Northern Ireland.
• 27 May – Speaking in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ruled out the introduction of conscription in Northern Ireland.
• 30 May – The Kyleclare (Capt. T. Hanrahan) was bombed off the Waterford coast.^[3]
• 31 May – Bombing of Dublin in World War II: Thirty-four people were killed when the Luftwaffe bombed part of Dublin.

• Summer – 16,000 men and boys were employed on county council turf-cutting schemes.^[1]

June

• 2 June – Arklow was bombed by the Luftwaffe, with no casualties.

July

• 24 July – Dundalk was bombed by the Luftwaffe, with no casualties.

August

• 22 August – The S.S. Clonlara (Capt. Joseph Reynolds) was torpedoed and sunk by U-564 in the North Atlantic while in Convoy OG 71 ("Nightmare Convoy"): 13 survivors and 11 dead.^[3]

September

• 16 September – Sixteen soldiers were killed and 20 were injured – 10 of them terribly – in the Glen of Imaal military training area in County Wicklow when an anti-tank mine exploded while they were receiving instruction in its use. It was the worst loss of life in the Irish Army during peacetime.^[7]

October

• 12 October – Charles Stewart Parnell, "the uncrowned King of Ireland," was honoured in a huge pageant in Dublin.

November

• November – Brendan Behan was released from Borstal in England and deported to Ireland.

December

• 8 December – The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, Winston Churchill cabled the Taoiseach inviting him to join the Allies of World War II.

Arts and literature

• Myles na gCopaleen's parodic novel An Béal Bocht was published.
• Donagh MacDonagh's Veterans, and other poems was published.
• Louis MacNeice's poetry Plant and Phantom and study The Poetry of W. B. Yeats were published.^[8]
• Kate O'Brien's novel The Land of Spices was published; it was prohibited in Ireland by the Censorship of Publications Board.^[9]
• English poet John Betjeman became the British press attaché in Dublin, living in Clondalkin.
• Opening of the new Dublin Airport passenger terminal, designed by Desmond FitzGerald, the first significant International Style building in Ireland.

Sport

Association football

League of Ireland

Winners: Cork United

FAI Cup

Winners: Cork United 2–2, 3–1 Waterford.

Golf

• The Irish Open was not played due to The Emergency (the second world war period in Ireland).

Births

• 3 January – Derrick O'Connor, actor (died 2018).
• 10 March – Pat Donnellan, Galway Gaelic footballer.
• 31 March – Jim O'Keeffe, Fine Gael party Teachta Dála (TD) for Cork South-West.
• 18 April – Michael D. Higgins, Labour Party TD, Cabinet Minister, and ninth President of Ireland.
• 22 May – Caitlín Maude, poet, actress and traditional singer (died 1982).
• 24 June – Gerard Clifford, Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Armagh.
• 24 July – Tony Dunne, association football player.
• 27 August – Paddy Barry, Cork hurler.
• 15 September – Tommy Carberry, National Hunt jockey and trainer (died 2017).
• 18 September – Michael Hartnett, poet (died 1999).
• 2 October – Donal Moynihan, Fianna Fáil party TD.
• 5 October – Phil Larkin, Kilkenny hurler.
• 13 October – Mick Doyle, rugby player and coach (died in car crash 2004).
• 20 October – Mike Murphy, television and radio broadcaster.
• 11 November – Eddie Keher, Kilkenny hurler.
• 23 November – Derek Mahon, poet (died 2020).
• 1 December – Fiachra Trench, musician and composer.
• 2 December – William Lee, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore (1993–2013).
• 10 December – Fionnula Flanagan, actress. (Fionnghuala Manon Flanagan)

  Full date unknown

  • Jonathan Bardon, historian and author.
  • James Coleman, installation and video artist.
  • Cyril Dunne, Galway Gaelic footballer.
  • Paddy Flanagan, cyclist (died 2000).
  • Eamon Grennan, poet.
  • Sean Matgamna, Trotskyist theorist.

Deaths

• 6 January – F. R. Higgins, poet and theatre director (born 1896).
• 10 January – John Lavery, artist (born 1856).
• 13 January – James Joyce, novelist and poet (born 1882).
• 15 February – Andrew Jameson, public servant, businessman and Seanad member (born 1855).
• 19 February – Hamilton Harty, conductor and composer (born 1879).
• 13 March – Finlay Jackson, cricketer and rugby player (born 1901).
• 1 April – Jennie Wyse Power, member of the Seanad from 1922 to 1936.
• 19 May – Lola Ridge, anarchist poet and editor (born 1873).
• 4 July – William John English, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1901 at Vlakfontein, South Africa (born 1882).
• 19 August – John T. Browne, Mayor of Houston, Texas (born 1845).
• 9 September – William Gerard Barry, painter (born 1864).
• 11 September – John MacLoughlin, elected for nine years to Seanad from 1922 as an independent.
• 11 October – Mildred Anne Butler, painter (born 1858).
• 26 November – James Jackman, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1941 at Tobruk, Libya; killed in action the next day (born 1916).

  Full date unknown

  • Sidney Royse Lysaght, writer (born 1856).