1918 in Ireland

Events

• 18 January – Count Plunkett, Seán T. O'Kelly and others protest at the forcible feeding of Sinn Féin prisoners in Mountjoy Prison.
• 5 February – is torpedoed off the Irish coast; it is the first ship carrying United States troops to Europe to be torpedoed and sunk.
• 1 March – Imperial German Navy U-boat SM U-19 sinks off Rathlin Island.
• 2 March – In Skibbereen, County Cork, Ernest Blythe is arrested for non-compliance with a military rule directing him to reside in Ulster.
• 6 March – in the British House of Commons, tributes are paid to John Redmond, Irish Nationalist leader, who has died in London.
• 18 April – the Military Service Bill, which includes conscription in Ireland, becomes law. A conference of nationalist parties, Sinn Féin and labour movements meets in Dublin to organise an all-Ireland opposition to conscription.
• 20 April – the Irish Parliamentary Party holds a meeting in Dublin to oppose conscription.
• 23 April – General Strike in opposition to conscription.
• May – RAF Aldergrove opens.
• 5 May – 15,000 people attend an anti-conscription meeting in County Roscommon. John Dillon, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party and Éamon de Valera of Sinn Féin share the platform in a united cause.
• 9 May – Field Marshal Sir John French, Viscount French of Ypres and of High Lake in the County of Roscommon, is appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Supreme Commander of the British Army in Ireland.
• 20 May – a special anti-conscription convention is held in Dublin. It condemns the arrest and deportation of Sinn Féin members consequent to the "German Plot".
• 20 June – Arthur Griffith of Sinn Féin wins a by-election in East Cavan. It is Sinn Féin's first victory of the year after three successive by-election defeats.
• 3 July – the Lord Lieutenant issues a proclamation banning Sinn Féin, the Irish Volunteers, the Gaelic League and Cumann na mBan.
• 17 July – is torpedoed and sunk off the east coast of Ireland by Imperial German Navy U-boat ; 218 of the 223 on board are rescued.
• 10 October – the Irish mail boat is sunk in the Irish Sea by Imperial German Navy U-boat with the loss of over 500 lives.
• 11 November – at 5.00am an armistice dictated by the Allies is signed by the Germans. Six hours later World War I officially ends. Well over 206,000 Irishmen have served and over 35,000 been killed during the war; there is no Irish parish without a loss.
• 22 December – Ireland voices a united invitation to President of the United States Woodrow Wilson to visit.
• 28 December – Sinn Féin have a landslide victory in the general election, winning 73 of the 105 seats in Ireland. The Irish Parliamentary Party is nearly wiped out. In accordance with their manifesto, Sinn Féin members will not take their seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom but will form the First Dáil. Countess Constance Markievicz, while detained in Holloway Prison, becomes the first woman elected to the Palace of Westminster. On 30 December the Irish Independent strongly criticises her.

  Arts and literature

• March – the Telemachus episode of James Joyce's Ulysses is published in the American journal The Little Review.
• 25 May – James Joyce's Exiles: a play in three acts is published in London.
• August – Anglo-Welsh composer Philip Heseltine concludes a year's stay in Ireland with the writing of a number of songs which will be published under the pseudonym Peter Warlock.
• Francis Ledwidge's poems Last Songs are published posthumously, edited by Lord Dunsany.
• Toirdhealbhach Mac Suibhne 's poems Battle-cries are published in Cork.
• 'Brinsley MacNamara' publishes his novel The Valley of the Squinting Windows.

  Sport

Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA)

• ;All Ireland Senior Hurling Final
• :Limerick 9–5 d Wexford 1–3
• ;All Ireland Senior Football Final
• :Wexford 0–5 d Tipperary 0–4

  Football

• ;Irish League
• :Winners: Linfield
• ;Irish Cup
• :Winners: Belfast Celtic 0–0, 0–0, 2–0 Linfield

  Births

• January – John Coffey, Tipperary hurler.
• 18 January – Jim Langton, Kilkenny hurler.
• 23 January – Charlie Kerins, Chief of Staff of the IRA, convicted of murder of Garda Síochána officer.
• 26 January – Louis Jacobson, cricketer.
• 7 February – Markey Robinson, artist.
• 14 February
• *Thomas J. Fitzpatrick, Ceann Comhairle and Fine Gael TD and Cabinet Minister.
• *Valentin Iremonger, poet and diplomat.
• 3 March – Peter O'Sullevan, horseracing commentator.
• 5 March – Denis J. O'Sullivan, Fine Gael TD.
• 17 March – Frederick Blaney, cricketer.
• 12 March – Pádraig Faulkner, Fianna Fáil TD for Louth and Cabinet Minister.
• 16 April – Spike Milligan, comedian, poet and writer.
• 22 May – Alan Clodd, book collector, dealer and publisher.
• 23 June – James Young, comedian.
• 27 June – Marie Kean, actress.
• 7 August – Florrie Burke, soccer player.
• 9 August – Luke Belton, Fine Gael TD.
• 29 August – John Herivel, historian of science and cryptanalyst.
• 12 September – Valerie Goulding, Senator and campaigner for the disabled.
• 17 September – Chaim Herzog, Belfast-born sixth President of Israel .
• 22 September – A. J. Potter, composer.
• 26 September – Jackie Vernon, footballer.
• 29 September – Douglas Gageby, journalist and newspaper editor.
• 13 October – Jack MacGowran, actor.
• October – Hugh McLaughlin, publisher and inventor.
• 19 November – Brendan Corish, Labour Party leader, TD, Cabinet Minister and Tánaiste.
• 24 December – Willie Clancy, uileann piper.
• Full date unknown – Terry Leahy, Kilkenny hurler.

  Deaths

• 6 January – Dora Sigerson Shorter, poet and sculptor.
• 23 January – Robert Gregory, cricketer and artist.
• 1 February – William Melville, police officer and first chief of the British Secret Service.
• 13 February – Henry Arthur Blake, British colonial administrator and Governor of Hong Kong.
• 27 March – Martin Sheridan, Olympic gold medallist for the United States.
• 28 March – Arthur Bateman, cricketer.
• 8 April – David Nelson, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1914 at Néry, France.
• 18 April – Samuel Young, 96-year-old MP for East Cavan
• 7 May – James Somers, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1915 at Gallipoli, Turkey.
• 10 June – William Parsons, 5th Earl of Rosse, soldier.
• 19 July – William McDonnell, 6th Earl of Antrim, peer.
• 26 July – Edward Mannock, First World War flying ace and posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross.
• 31 July – George McElroy, Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force pilot during World War I, killed in action.
• 18 September – Claude Joseph Patrick Nunney, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1918 on the Drocourt-Queant Line, France.
• 25 September – John Ireland, third Bishop and first Archbishop of Saint Paul, Minnesota.
• 1 October – Martin Joseph Sheehan, soldier and Royal Air Service Observer in World War I, killed in action.
• 14 October – Louis Lipsett, British Army and Canadian Expeditionary Force senior officer during the First World War, killed in action.
• 14 November – Seumas O'Kelly, journalist and author