Events in the year 1969 in Ireland.
Incumbents
President: Éamon de Valera
Taoiseach: Jack Lynch (FF) Tánaiste: Frank Aiken (FF) (until 2 July 1969) Erskine H. Childers (FF) (from 2 July 1969) Minister for Finance: Charles Haughey (FF) Chief Justice: Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh Dáil: 18th (until 22 May 1969) 19th (from 2 July 1969) Seanad: 11th (until 24 July 1969) 12th (from 5 November 1969)
Events
1 January – The People's Democracy civil rights march left Belfast for Derry. 4 January – Militant loyalists, including off-duty Ulster Special Constabulary ("B-Specials"), attacked civil rights marchers in County Londonderry. 10 January – Protestors in Northern Ireland defied police orders to abandon a planned march. 27 January – Ian Paisley was jailed for three months for illegal assembly in Northern Ireland. 4 March – The Lichfield Report was issued. It proposed the creation of a "University of Limerick" which would be "orientated towards technological subjects". 19 March – Ireland received its first loan from the World Bank. 22 March – Civil rights demonstrations took place all over Northern Ireland. 17 April – Bernadette Devlin, the 21-year-old student and civil rights campaigner, won the Mid-Ulster by-election. She was the youngest-ever female Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom. 20 April – British troops arrived in Northern Ireland as a back-up to the Royal Ulster Constabulary. 28 April – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Terence O'Neill, resigned. 1 May – Major James Chichester-Clark succeeded Terence O'Neill as the Northern Irish Prime Minister. 7 May – The Minister for Finance, Charles Haughey, announced tax exemptions for painters, sculptors, writers, and composers on earnings gained from works of cultural merit. June – Penneys department store in Dublin, predecessor of multinational fast fashion retailer Primark, was established by Arthur Ryan on behalf of the Weston family at 47 Mary Street. 18 June – The 1969 Irish general election for Dáil Éireann was held. 20 July – Telefís Éireann, which normally stopped broadcasting by midnight, transmitted its first all-night programme when the first men landed on the Moon at 9.17 pm, Irish time. The moonwalk began at 3.39 the next morning and ended at 6.11. The entire broadcast was hosted live by Kevin O'Kelly, working alone in front of the camera, and he won a Jacob's Award for his performance. 21 July – President de Valera sent U.S. President Richard Nixon a telegram of congratulations and admiration following the first manned Moon landing by Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. 1 August A huge protest rally over events in Northern Ireland was held outside the General Post Office, Dublin. The crowd demanded that the Irish Army cross the border. The farthing and halfpenny coins were withdrawn from circulation as Ireland moved towards decimalisation. 3 August – Taoiseach Jack Lynch made a state visit to Lebanon. 5 August Belfast experienced the worst sectarian rioting since 1935. RTÉ Studio bombing: The RTÉ broadcasting studios in Donnybrook, Dublin were bombed. The explosion occurred at 1.30 am and a security officer was injured. The Ulster Volunteer Force terrorist group admitted responsibility on 24 October. 12 August – Rioting broke out in Derry in the Battle of the Bogside, the first major confrontation of The Troubles. 13–17 August – Sectarian rioting took place in Northern Ireland. 13 August – As the Battle of the Bogside continued, Taoiseach Jack Lynch made a speech on television saying that the Irish government "can no longer stand by" and demanded a United Nations peace-keeping force for Northern Ireland. 14 August – British troops were deployed for the first time in Northern Ireland to restore law and order. Their presence was welcomed at first by many in the Catholic population of Derry. 15 August – A night of shooting and burning took place in Belfast. In Dublin, a Sinn Féin party protest meeting called for the boycott of British goods, Irish government protection of the people of Northern Ireland, and United Nations intervention. 16 August – British soldiers were deployed in particularly violent areas of Belfast. 17 August – Members of the Garda Síochána (police) clashed with protesters on O'Connell Street, Dublin, as a march against the Northern Ireland situation headed for the British embassy. 27 August – The B-Specials began to hand in their guns following a call by Lieutenant-General Ian Freeland to disband them. British Home Secretary, James Callaghan, visited Belfast. 30 August – Jack Lynch ordered the Irish Army Chief of Staff, General Seán Mac Eoin, to prepare a plan, called Exercise Armageddon, for possible incursions into Northern Ireland in defence of Catholic communities there.