1958 in Ireland-The Daily Ledger

Events from the year 1958 in Ireland.

Incumbents

President: Seán T. O'Kelly

Taoiseach: Éamon de Valera (FF) Tánaiste: Seán Lemass (FF) Minister for Finance: James Ryan (FF) Chief Justice: Conor Maguire Dáil: 16th Seanad: 9th

1958 in Ireland

Events

6 February – Billy Whelan, a 22-year-old forward who played four times for the Ireland national team, was among 21 people killed in the Munich air disaster involving English football league champions Manchester United. He had played nearly 100 times for United in the space of three years, scoring 52 goals and winning two league titles. 18 March – Taoiseach Éamon de Valera said he would be willing to have talks with the government of Northern Ireland on wider economic co-operation. 20 March – Work began on the £80,000 restoration of the State Rooms at Dublin Castle. 10 May – The Independent TD, Jack Murphy, resigned in protest at the indifference of the main political parties to the plight of the unemployed. 12 May – Ardmore Film Studios were opened by the Tánaiste, Seán Lemass. 22 May – The Minister for Education, Jack Lynch, told the Dáil that the ruling requiring women teachers to retire on marriage is to be revoked. 25 July – £100 damages were awarded to a nine-year-old boy who was beaten by his teacher in a national school. 28 July – The Carlisle Monument, an eight-foot bronze statue in the Phoenix Park in Dublin, was blown up by an Irish republican bomb in the early hours. 6 August – Australian athlete Herb Elliott shattered the world record for the mile at Santry Stadium in Dublin, recording a time of 3 minutes 54.5 seconds. 8 August – The United States Embassy in Merrion Square displayed plans for a new embassy in Dublin. 8 September – Pan Am's Boeing 707 became the first jetliner to touch down on European soil at Shannon Airport. 1 October – Assets and management of the Great Northern Railway were divided between and the Ulster Transport Authority. 29 October – The Government announced that the question of ending the proportional representation method of voting was to be put to the people in a referendum. 4 November – In the Vatican, Taoiseach Éamon de Valera attended the four-hour coronation of Pope John XXIII. 31 December – The Harcourt Street railway line in Dublin closed, having served Ranelagh, Milltown, Dundrum, Stillorgan, Foxrock, Carrickmines, Shankill and Bray.

1958 in Ireland

Arts and literature

21 February – Desmond Guinness established the Irish Georgian Society for the promotion of Georgian architecture. 16 June – Brendan Behan's one-act Irish language play was first performed at the Damer Theatre in Dublin. 14 October – The English adaptation of , The Hostage, was first performed by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, London. 28 October – Samuel Beckett's monologue Krapp's Last Tape was first performed by Patrick Magee at the Royal Court Theatre, London. Samuel Beckett's novel The Unnamable was published in English. Behan's autobiographical Borstal Boy was published in London. On 12 November it was banned in Ireland by the Censorship of Publications Board. Thomas Kinsella's poetry Another September was published in Dublin. Patrick MacDonogh's poetry One Landscape Still was published. John Montague's poetry Forms of Exile was published. The Oxford Book of Irish Verse, XVIIth century-XXth century, edited by Donagh MacDonagh and Lennox Robinson, was published.

1958 in Ireland