1956 in Ireland

• 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 . • 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 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, ==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==