1987 in Ireland

Incumbents

• President: Patrick Hillery
• Taoiseach:
• * Garret FitzGerald
• * Charles Haughey
• Tánaiste:
• * Dick Spring
• * Peter Barry
• * Brian Lenihan
• Minister for Finance:
• * John Bruton
• * Ray MacSharry
• Chief Justice: Thomas Finlay
• Dáil:
• * 24th
• * 25th
• Seanad:
• * 17th
• * 18th

  Events

• 1 January
• *Vehicle registration plates of the Republic of Ireland: a new sequence of index marks is adopted.
• *The halfpenny is abolished.
• 20 January – Labour Party ministers resign from the government over a disagreement over budget proposals.
• 19 February – a general election returns a Fianna Fáil minority government with Charles Haughey as Taoiseach.
• 11 March – former Taoiseach Dr. Garret FitzGerald resigns the leadership of Fine Gael. He is succeeded by Alan Dukes.
• 22 March – the Irish National Lottery is launched.
• 28 March – the National Lottery launches its first scratch cards.
• 8 May – Loughgall ambush: the British SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army members and a civilian in Loughgall, County Tyrone.
• 9 May – Johnny Logan wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland with his own composition Hold Me Now, making him the only person to have won the competition twice as a performer.
• 26 May – voters go to the poll in the referendum on the Single European Act. Nearly 70% vote in favour of the 10th amendment to the constitution.
• 26 July – Stephen Roche wins the Tour de France.
• 8 November – Remembrance Day bombing: Eleven civilians are killed by an IRA bomb during a Remembrance Day service in Enniskillen.
• 10 November – the funeral takes place in Portmarnock of the broadcaster Eamonn Andrews followed by burial in Balgriffin Cemetery, north of Dublin.
• 29 November – Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, opens to patients.
• 5 December – Downpatrick & Ardglass Railway begins public operation, the first Irish gauge heritage railway in Ireland.

  Arts and literature

• U2 release The Joshua Tree album to popular international acclaim.
• Maeve Binchy's novel Firefly Summer is published.
• Roddy Doyle publishes his first novel, The Commitments, first of The Barrytown Trilogy, about a group of unemployed young people in the north side of Dublin who start a soul band.
• Kíla, the folk/world music group, is formed in the Irish language secondary school Coláiste Eoin in County Dublin.

  Sport

Cycling

• 6 September – Stephen Roche completes a remarkable treble by winning the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and the World Championship.

  Gaelic football

• Meath defeat Cork by 1–14 to 0–11 to win the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

  Golf

• Carroll's Irish Open is won by Bernhard Langer.

  Hurling

• Galway defeat Kilkenny by 1–12 to 0–9 to win the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.

  Soccer

• 11 November – Republic of Ireland qualify for their first major international tournament when Scotland pull off a shock 1–0 win in Sofia against Bulgaria. Gary Mackay scores the only goal with just three minutes left to put the Republic of Ireland into Euro 88 which will be held in West Germany.

  Births

• 2 January – Cathal Naughton, Cork hurler.
• 9 January – Nicola Coughlan, actress
• 22 January – Shane Long, soccer player.
• 24 January – Ruth Bradley, television actress.
• 30 January – Becky Lynch, professional wrestler.
• 4 February – Darren O'Dea, soccer player.
• 5 February – Denis McLaughlin, soccer player.
• 14 February – James Chambers, soccer player.
• 16 March – Diarmuid O'Carroll, soccer player.
• 2 April – Shane Lowry, golfer
• 13 April – Conor Sammon, soccer player.
• 23 April – Kelly Gough, actress.
• 12 May – Darren Randolph, soccer player.
• 20 May – Pa Cronin, Cork hurler.
• 21 May – Chris McCann, soccer player.
• 7 July – Diarmuid Connolly, Dublin Gaelic football and hurling player.
• 9 July – Jonny Hayes, soccer player.
• 9 July – Sean Kelly, soccer player.
• 28 September – Gary Deegan, soccer player.
• 2 June – Graeme Mulcahy, hurler.
• 2 October – Séamus Hickey, hurler.
• 11 October – Richie McCarthy, hurler.
• 16 October – Eric McGill, soccer player.
• 9 November – Tom Condon, hurler.
• 16 November – T. J. Reid, Kilkenny hurler.
• 13 December – Billy Clarke, soccer player.

  Deaths

• 2 January – Roger McHugh, professor, author and playwright.
• 4 January – Eudie Coughlan, Cork hurler.
• 14 January – Ewart Milne, poet.
• January – Billy King, cricketer.
• 8 April – Kevin McNamara, Archbishop of Dublin .
• 19 April – Con Cremin, diplomat.
• 22 April – Bill Hayes, soccer player.
• 23 April – Oliver J. Flanagan, Fine Gael TD and Cabinet Minister.
• 27 April – Maurice Gibson, Northern Irish judge.
• 8 May – Jim Lynagh, Provisional Irish Republican Army member killed in an ambush by the SAS during an attack on Loughgall RUC station.
• 22 June – John Hewitt, poet.
• 30 June – Tommy O'Connor, soccer player.
• 20 July – Denis J. O'Sullivan, Fine Gael TD.
• 18 October – Michael Lipper, Labour Party politician and TD.
• 29 October – Monk Gibbon, poet and author.
• 5 November – Eamonn Andrews, broadcaster.
• 25 November – James McDyer, Roman Catholic priest and community leader.
• 8 December – Peadar Livingstone, priest and historian.
• 9 December – Seán Brosnahan, Treasurer INTO, member of the Seanad from 1961 to 1977.

  Full date unknown

• Jimmy Warnock, boxer.