1991 in Ireland

Incumbents

• President: Mary Robinson
• Taoiseach: Charles Haughey
• Tánaiste: John Wilson
• Minister for Finance:
• * Albert Reynolds
• * Charles Haughey
• * Bertie Ahern
• Chief Justice: Thomas Finlay
• Dáil: 26th
• Seanad: 19th

  Events

• 1 January – Limerick city celebrated 300 years of the Treaty of Limerick.
• 17 January – there was controversy as the Government allowed United States military aircraft bound for the Gulf War to refuel at Shannon Airport.
• 24 January – the new Government Buildings in the renovated College of Science were officially opened.
• 7 February – the Provisional Irish Republican Army fired mortar bombs at 10 Downing Street in London.
• 14 March – after being wrongfully jailed for 16 years, the Birmingham Six were freed.
• 15 March – the provided for privatization of Cómhlucht Siúicre Éireann, Teoranta, the state-owned sugar beet processor, as Greencore.
• 16 March – Dublin was officially inaugurated as the year's European Capital of Culture.
• 22 March – the President, Mary Robinson, against pressure not to do so from the Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, visited the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin where the Dalai Lama opened a Tibetan collection in the library. She was the only head of state in Europe to meet with him during his European trip. The Dalai Lama's first visit to Ireland was in 1973.
• 10 April – an unarmed Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer was shot dead in Downpatrick by the RUC.
• 17 May – first edition of the Liffey Champion, local newspaper for North County Kildare and Lucan.
• 26 June – the wrongful convictions of the Maguire Seven were quashed.
• 6 November – Kildare TD Seán Power proposed a no-confidence motion in Charles Haughey's leadership.
• 7 November – the Minister for Finance, Albert Reynolds, was dismissed from the government over his intention to support the no-confidence motion.
• 13 November – Jim McDaid, the new Defence Minister, resigned following criticism from the opposition over his attendance at an IRA funeral.
• 21 November – three crew members of the M.V. Kilkenny are drowned as a result of a collision between the Kilkenny the M.V. Hassel Werder in Dublin Bay.

  Arts and literature

• 25 May – opening of the Irish Museum of Modern Art at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.
• November – opening of the Dublin Writers Museum.
• Corcadorca Theatre Company established in Cork.
• Roddy Doyle's novel The Van, last of The Barrytown Trilogy, was published.
• Anne Enright's short story collection The Portable Virgin was published and won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.

  Sport

Athletics

• Frank O'Mara won the world indoor 3,000 metre championship for the second time.

  Cycling

• 19 October – Sean Kelly won the Giro di Lombardia.

  Football

• The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final finished on a score of Down GAA 1–16 Meath GAA 1–14.

  Golf

• Carroll's Irish Open was won by Nick Faldo.

  Hurling

• The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final finished on a score of Tipperary GAA 1–16 Kilkenny GAA 0–15.

  Motor racing

• Eddie Jordan entered his Jordan team in the World Formula One Championship, becoming the first Irish owned constructor in Formula One.

  Births

• 28 February – Sarah Bolger, actress.
• 16 August – Evanna Lynch, actress.
• 14 October – Kevin Downes, hurler.
• Papillon, steeplechaser.
• Sally Rooney, fiction writer.

  Deaths

January to June

• 5 January – Hubert Butler, writer and historian
• 29 January – Joe Stynes, Irish Republican and sportsman.
• 19 February – Thekla Beere, civil servant.
• 20 April – Seán Ó Faoláin, short story writer.
• 22 May – Valentin Iremonger, poet and diplomat.
• 25 May – John M. Feehan, author and publisher.
• 25 May – Eddie Fullerton, Sinn Féin councillor, killed by the Ulster Defence Association.

  July to December

• 18 August – Patrick Joseph Kelly, Bishop of Benin City.
• 17 October – J. G. Devlin, actor.
• 13 November – Francis Blackwood, 10th Baron Dufferin and Claneboye.
• 12 November – Billy Behan, soccer player and Scout.
• 14 November – Bryden Thomson, orchestral conductor.
• 15 November – George Otto Simms, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin and Archbishop of Armagh.
• 19 November – Michael Lyons, Fine Gael TD and Senator.
• 1 December – Pat O'Callaghan, athlete and Olympic gold-medallist.