1880 in Ireland

• 2 February – Charles Stewart Parnell addresses the United States Congress. • 31 March–27 April – United Kingdom general election in Ireland • December – trial of Parnell and others for conspiracy begins. heiress Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts, offers to advance £250,000 to the authorities for the supply of seed potatoes, forcing the government to take action itself. • St Stephen's Green, Dublin, opened as a public park. ==Arts and literature==

• 9 February – the Theatre Royal, Dublin, burns to the ground. ==Sport==

Soccer • 18 November – Irish Football Association is founded at the Queen's Hotel, Belfast. • Irish Cup knock-out competition instituted on an all-Ireland basis. ==Births==

• 3 January – Francis Browne, Jesuit priest and photographer (died 1960). • 6 January – John McKenna, traditional flute player (died 1947 in the United States) • 12 January – Frank Fahy, Sinn Féin MP and later TD, member of 1st Dáil, Ceann Comhairle, Fianna Fáil TD (died 1953). • 23 January – Herbert Dixon, 1st Baron Glentoran, Unionist politician (died 1950). • 9 February – Thomas Kettle, writer, barrister, Nationalist politician and economist (killed in action 1916). • 20 February – J. J. Walsh, Sinn Féin MP, member of 1st Dáil, a founder-member of Cumann na nGaedheal and Cabinet Minister (died 1948). • 29 March – Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne, British politician and businessman (assassinated in Cairo by the Zionist group Lehi (Stern Gang) 1944), born at Iveagh House, Dublin. • 30 March – Seán O'Casey, dramatist and memoirist (died 1964). • 26 April – Joseph Lynch, cricketer (died 1915). • 6 June – W. T. Cosgrave, first President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State (died 1965). • 13 June – John Dignan, Roman Catholic Bishop of Clonfert (died 1953). • 2 July – Mary Elizabeth Byrne, literary scholar (died 1931). • 19 August – Augusta Crichton-Stuart, Marchioness of Bute (died 1947). • 24 August – William Kenny, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1914 near Ypres, Belgium (died 1936). • 23 September – Áine Ceannt, born Frances Brennan, revolutionary activist and humanitarian (died 1954). • 4 October – Sim Walton, Kilkenny hurler (died 1966). • 23 October – Una O'Connor, actress (died 1959). • 3 November – Edward Barrett, athlete, wrestler and hurler, Olympic medallist. ==Deaths==

• 6 February – Myles William Patrick O'Reilly, Catholic soldier and writer (born 1825). • 26 February – Charles William Russell, Roman Catholic clergyman and scholar (born 1812). • 2 March – John Benjamin Macneill, railway engineer (born 1793). • 16 April – Edward Vaughan Hyde Kenealy, barrister and writer (born 1819). • 7 June – John Brougham, actor and dramatist (born 1814). • 12 September – Frederic Trench, 2nd Baron Ashtown, peer (born 1804). • 18 October – Ann Jellicoe, educationalist (born 1823). • 20 December – Joshua Spencer Thompson, Liberal-Conservative politician in Canada (born 1828). ==See also==