1978 in Ireland

See also: 1977 in Ireland, other events of 1978, 1979 in Ireland and the list of 'years in Ireland'.

Events

• January 18 – The European Court of Human Rights finds Britain guilty of inhuman and degrading treatment of internees in Northern Ireland.
• January 19 – The Fianna Fáil government dismisses the Garda Commissioner Edmund Garvey. No explanation is given.
• January 21 – John Giles resigns as manager of the Republic of Ireland national football team.
• March 23 – The funeral of former President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh takes place in Sneem, County Kerry.
• March 31 – 6,000 people march through Dublin to the Wood Quay site to protest the building of civic offices on the Viking site.
• June 1 – David Cooke of the Alliance Party becomes the first non-unionist Lord Mayor of Belfast.
• August 19 – Over 5,000 people take part in an anti-nuclear rally at Carnsore Point, County Wexford.
• September 1 – Dublin Institute of Technology is created on an ad-hoc basis by the City of Dublin VEC.
• November 2 – Ireland's second national television channel, RTÉ 2, opens with a live broadcast from the Cork Opera House.

Arts and literature

• Iris Murdoch is awarded the Booker Prize for her novel The Sea, The Sea.

Sports

• March 25 – John Treacy wins the world cross-country championship in Glasgow.

Births

• April 19 – Geordan Murphy, International rugby player.

Deaths

• March 4 – Emmet Dalton, revolutionary.
• March 5 – Micheál MacLiammóir, actor and director.
• March 21 – Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, fifth President of Ireland.
• July 5 – Mary Swanzy, painter.
• November 5 – Denis O'Dea, actor.