1957 in Ireland-The Daily Ledger

Events from the year 1957 in Ireland.

Incumbents

President: Seán T. O'Kelly

Taoiseach: John A. Costello (FG) (until 20 March 1957) Éamon de Valera (FF) (from 20 March 1957) Tánaiste: William Norton (Lab) (until 20 March 1957) Seán Lemass (FF) (from 20 March 1957) Minister for Finance: Gerard Sweetman (FG) (until 20 March 1957) James Ryan (FF) (from 20 March 1957) Chief Justice: Conor Maguire Dáil: 15th (until 4 February 1957) 16th (from 20 March 1957) Seanad: 8th (until 28 March 1957) 9th (from 22 May 1957)

1957 in Ireland

Events

1 January – Border Campaign: Seán South and Fergal O'Hanlon were killed in an Irish Republican Army (IRA) attack on a Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks in Brookeborough, County Fermanagh. Following this, the Government of Ireland used the current Offences Against the State Act to arrest most of the IRA's leadership, including its Chief of Staff, Seán Cronin. 12 January – Over a hundred republicans were arrested under the Special Powers Act in Northern Ireland. 24 January – Sir Alfred Chester Beatty became the first person granted honorary citizenship of Ireland. 4 February – St. Mary's Church of Ireland Cathedral at Elphin, County Roscommon, was severely damaged in a violent storm, leading to its abandonment. 3 March – Éamon de Valera told a crowd in Cork that a United Ireland could be achieved with time and the support of the people. 5 March – 1957 Irish general election: Fianna Fáil under Éamon de Valera returned to power, winning 78 seats. Members of the 16th Dáil assembled on March 20. 7 March - A Percival Provost aircraft crashes on the lower eastern slope of Table Mountain, County Wicklow with the loss of one life. 11 March – Prize Bonds were introduced; the Bank of Ireland operated the scheme on behalf of the Minister for Finance. May–September – Fethard-on-Sea Ne Temere boycott: a Roman Catholic priest and some of his parishioners organised a boycott of Protestant-owned local businesses. 4 July – Following the killing of a Royal Ulster Constabulary officer, the new Government of Ireland introduced wholesale internment without trial for IRA suspects. 4 July – The Dáil debated the Fethard-on-Sea Ne Temere boycott. 22 July – The Gough Monument in the Phoenix Park was wrecked by an explosion so violent that it was heard all over Dublin. 7 August – A 20-foot high war memorial in Limerick was blown up. It was erected to commemorate British soldiers from Limerick who died in World War I. 30 September – Last day of operation of 97 miles (155 km) of railway in Northern Ireland (Great Northern Railway (Ireland) branches and the entire Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway) following government instructions. County Fermanagh lost all its lines. The GNR closed a further 84 miles (134 km) of connecting lines in the Republic on October 12. 2 October – The Minister for Health, Seán MacEntee, launched the Voluntary Health Insurance Board. 7 October – President Seán T. O'Kelly's country residence, Roundwood House, County Wicklow, was destroyed by fire. 10 October – The Windscale fire began with a fire in a graphite core of a reactor at the Windscale Nuclear Power station and reprocessing centre on the Cumberland coast of North West England. Years later there were claims that the radiation caused cancers and birth defects in County Louth. 27 October – The foundation stone of Galway Cathedral was blessed. 1 November – The Soviet satellite Sputnik was visible over Dublin for the second time in a month. November – Border Campaign: The premature explosion of a bomb at a farmhouse in County Louth killed four IRA men and a householder. Undated – Cyril Lord opened a new factory for the production of tufted carpets at Donaghadee, County Down.

1957 in Ireland

Arts and literature

13 January – Samuel Beckett's All That Fall (set in a fictionalised Foxrock) was first broadcast (on the BBC Third Programme in the U.K.), with J. G. Devlin in a leading role. 12 May – The Pike Theatre in Dublin staged the Tennessee Williams play The Rose Tattoo. During its short run the theatre was invaded by Gardaí and director Alan Simpson arrested for producing "a lewd entertainment" for a mime of dropping a condom onto the floor. The Bachelors musical group formed as The Harmonichords in Dublin. Publication of Tomás de Bhaldraithe's English-Irish Dictionary. Publication of Heinrich Böll's Irisches Tagebuch (Irish Journal).

1957 in Ireland