1905 in Ireland

Events

• 9 January – the Lillebonne, the largest vessel ever constructed in Dublin, is successfully launched in the North Wall Yard.
• 16 February – at the Royal Navy's Haulbowline base, explosions on board the newly-commissioned submarine due to petrol fumes after refuelling kill six of the eleven crew.
• 6 March – the obligation of the Post Office in regard to letters addressed in Irish is raised in the British House of Commons. The debate arises because the GPO in Dublin returned parcels addressed in Irish by the Gaelic League.
• 29 May – statistics for Ireland in 1904 show that nearly 37,000 people emigrated. Since 1851 almost 4 million people have left the island.
• 7 July – the Drunkenness Bill is debated in the British House of Commons. Irish Members of Parliament criticise the bill on the grounds that it is offensive.
• 28 November – founding of Sinn Féin.
• Church House is built in Belfast, home to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

  Arts and literature

• February – J. M. Synge's historical play The Well of the Saints is first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, by the Irish National Theatre Society.
• 23 May – George Bernard Shaw's play Man and Superman is first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London.
• Padraic Colum's The Land is performed at the Abbey Theatre.
• George A. Birmingham's roman à clef The Seething Pot is published.
• Lord Dunsany's short story sequence The Gods of Pegāna is published.
• Filson Young's novel The Sands of Pleasure is published.
• The traditional hymn Be Thou My Vision is first translated from Old Irish into English by Mary Elizabeth Byrne, in the journal Ériu.

  Sport

Football

• ;International
• :25 February – England 1–1 Ireland
• :18 March Scotland 4–0 Ireland
• :8 April Ireland 2–2 Wales
• ;Irish League
• :Winners: Glentoran
• ;Irish Cup
• :Winners: Distillery 3–0 Shelbourne
• Windsor Park football ground in Belfast is opened with a match between Linfield and Glentoran.

  Gaelic Games

• The All-Ireland Champions are Kilkenny and Kildare

  Births

• 2 January – Padraic Fallon, poet.
• 23 April – William Conolly-Carew, 6th Baron Carew.
• 26 April – Denis O'Dea, actor.
• 22 May – Mick Ahern, Cork hurler.
• 8 June – Brian Coffey, poet and publisher.
• 24 June – Michael Scott, architect.
• 3 September – Jimmy Dunne, soccer player.
• 9 September – Jimmy McCambridge, soccer player.
• 15 September – Pat O'Callaghan, athlete and Olympic gold medallist.
• 11 December – Erskine Hamilton Childers, Fianna Fáil TD, Cabinet Minister and fourth President of Ireland.
• ;Full date unknown
• :*P. A. Ó Síocháin, journalist, author and lawyer.
• :*Jackie Wright, comedian.

  Deaths

• 12 January – James Mason, chess player and writer.
• 9 February – Valentine Browne, 4th Earl of Kenmare, peer.
• 14 March – George Fisher, Mayor of Wellington, New Zealand.
• 6 April – Henry Benedict Medlicott, geologist.
• 24 April – Kivas Tully, architect.
• 31 May – Michael N. Nolan, U.S. Representative from New York, mayor of Albany.
• 27 June – Harold Mahony, tennis player .
• 15 July – Kevin Izod O'Doherty, transported to Australia in 1849, physician and politician.
• 13 September – Patrick Collins, U.S. Representative from Massachusetts and Mayor of Boston.
• 19 September – Dr. Thomas John Barnardo, philanthropist.
• 31 October – Bryan O'Loghlen, politician in Australia, 13th Premier of Victoria.
• 9 December – William Ford, businessman in America, father of Henry Ford.