September 1
1737 - Launch of the Belfast News Letter, now the oldest surviving newspaper in Ireland or Britain,
and one of the oldest in the world
1830 - Dublin Zoo opens
1830 - The “Wild Colonial Boy” is shot dead in a gun battle with police at Cambelltown, Sydney.
Contrary to the popular song, “The Wild Colonial Boy” was John Donohue, transported from Ireland
in 1824
1856 - Birth of Irish Nationalist Party leader John Redmond in Ballytrent, Co. Wexford
1864 - Roger Casement, British consular official and Irish nationalist, is born in Sandycove, Co.
Dublin
1870 - Isaac Butt founds the Home Government Association; Home Rule is now the objective of
constitutional nationalists
1999 - Five-year-old triplets Jake, Melissa and Denis Doherty from Knockanes, Headford, Co. Kerry,
arrive for their first day at school in Knockanes National School
2000 - The number of people out of work falls to an 18-year low
2000 - The resumption of normal train services to Westport, Co. Mayo is celebrated with a platform
party. Bemused but delighted passengers are greeted with delicacies and glasses of champagne laid
on by the local Atlantic Coast Hotel, one of hundreds of establishments in the Mayo region hit
financially by the 10 week rail stoppage
2002 - Hugh Orde, Northern Ireland’s new chief constable vows to crack down on paramilitary
"godfathers" who have orchestrated a series of unsolved sectarian murders.
September 2
1022 - Maelsechlainn II - "The great high king of Ireland" - dies
1649 - Siege of Drogheda begins
1752 - The Gregorian calendar is adopted in Ireland and Britain, 170 years after mainland Europe: 2
September is followed by 14 September
1893 - Second Home Rule Bill passed by House of Commons
1933 - Cummann na nGaedheal, the Centre Party, and the National Guard, once known as the
"Blueshirts", join forces to form Fine Gael
1942 - IRA Volunteer Tom Williams is hanged at Belfast's Crumlin Road Jail
2002 - Ireland forms an alliance with Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Greece in a bid to
limit the expansion of nuclear energy
2002 - A Commission which includes loyalist paramilitaries calls on republican terror groups to join
them in achieving calm along sectarian flashpoint areas.
September 3
1654 - The first Protectorate parliament meets; Ireland is represented by 30 members
1821 - The last day of George IV's visit to Ireland
1842 - In Kill, Co. Kildare, birth of John Devoy, journalist and leading member of the Fenians
1850 - Charters are granted to colleges in Belfast (now Queen’s University), Cork (now UCC) and
Galway (now UCG), under the Universities (Ireland) Act
1854 - Birth of Fanny Parnell, Land League agitator and sister of Charles Stewart Parnell
1998 - Near the scene of the explosion, US President Bill Clinton and British Premier Tony Blair
unveil a plaque in memory of the Omagh bombing victims
1998 - New Garda powers come into force which open the way for a clampdown on hardline
extremists
In the liturgical calendar, it is the feast day of St. MacNis, baptised by St. Patrick, and later
consecrated Bishop by the Saint.
September 4
1798 - Cornwallis moves forward from Tuam to attack Castlebar
Humbert leaves Castlebar with 800 French troops and 1000 Irish rebels and moves into Co Sligo. His
plan is to march to Ulster. Humbert marches all might. Rising takes place in Longford and Westmeath
1844 - Conspiracy judgment against Daniel O'Connell is reversed by House of Lords
1851 - John Dillon, Nationalist politician, is born in Blackrock, Co. Dublin
1976 - Women protest against men-only bathing at the Forty Foot in Sandycove.
September 5
1690 - Having failed to take Limerick, William leaves Ireland
1724 - In the guise of an Irish Patriot , M. B. Drapier, Jonathan Swift publishes "Drapier Letter III" -
one of a series of letters designed to incite the people against a new coinage
1771 - Benjamin Franklin's visit to Ireland begins
1798 - Humbert defeats small government force at Collooney, but suffers serious casualties; he
camps at Dromahair. Longford rebels attack Granard and are routed. Westmeath rebels occupy
Wilson's Hospital
1930 - The first edition of the Irish Press, a Dublin daily newspaper founded by De Valera as a
platform for Fianna Fáil, is published
1998 - President Clinton follows in the footsteps of John F. Kennedy and becomes a Freeman of
Limerick. Today marks the end of his three-day visit to Ireland
1999 - History comes alive at Phoenix Park as the beating of the Millennium Drum signals the
beginning of a week long celebration of Irish history and heritage
2002 - US-owned communications equipment firm, Tellabs, announces it will close its Shannon plant
in December with the loss of more than 400 jobs.
September 6
1798 - Humbert marches to Drumkeeran. Lake is still tailing Humbert
1813 - Isaac Butt, barrister, politician and founder of the Home Rule movement, is born in Glenfin,
Co. Donegal
1831 - Birth in Rosscarbery, Co. Cork of Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, one of the founders of the
Fenian Brotherhood
1974 - 19 Prisoners escape from Porlaoise Prison
1981 - Death of Christy Brown, the handicapped Dublin author, who learned to type with his left foot
1987 - Cyclist Stephen Roche wins the World Professional Road Race Championship
1999 - The £20 million Cavan town and Butlersbridge by-pass is officially opened by Environment
Minister Noel Dempsey
2000 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern pledges to the United Nations that Ireland will more than double its
level of aid to the world’s poorest countries over the next seven years
2000 - Dublin's City Hall reopens after a two year, £4•5 million refurbishment programme
September 7
1695 - Penal Laws are passed which restrict the rights of Catholics to have an education, to bear
arms, or to possess a horse worth more than five pounds
1798 - Humbert crosses Shannon at Ballintra and camps at Cloone. Cornwallis crosses Shannon.
Rebels at Wilson's Hospital are routed; this ends the rebellion in the midlands
1892 - John L. Sullivan loses his world heavyweight boxing title to another Irish American, James
Corbett
1921 - Frank Duff founds the Association of Our Lady of Mercy, later to be known as the Legion of
Mary
1948 - Taoiseach John A.Costello declares the Irish Free State a Republic
1980 - Galway wins the All Ireland Final
2001 - It is announced that US President George Bush is sending his special envoy, Richard Haass,
to Northern Ireland to sound out parties on the ailing peace process.
September 8
1783 - A second convention of Dungannon - a gathering of Volunteers from Ulster- is held and
prepares the way for a National Volunteer convention on parliamentary reform
1798 - Battle of Ballinamuck - last major battle of "The Year of the French"; after a short fight,
Humbert surrenders
1852 - A conference of the Tenant League in Dublin adopts a policy of independent opposition in
Parliament
1908 - Poet, educator and eventual Easter Rising rebel Patrick Pearse opens St. Edna's school for
boys (Scoil Eanna), combining new European theories of education with a focus on the glory of the
Gaelic past
1933 - Founding of Fine Gael Party
1998 - A radical Government action plan aiming to cut thousands off the dole is launched
1999 - AB Airlines will cease operations on the Shannon to London Gatwick route at midnight
2000 - US President Bill Clinton announces he will visit Ireland in December
2000 - Clonakilty, Co. Cork claims the Best Village title in the prestigious European Entente Florale
competition; in the town category, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, wins a bronze medal in the highly
competitive environmental contest
2002 - The Kilkenny Cats beat the Co. Clare Banners and collect their 27th All-Ireland hurling title in
front of 76,254 fans at Croke Park
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St. Disbode, a 7th century Irish missionary.
According to German legend, the Irish saint founded the German wine industry when wine started
pouring from his pilgrim’s staff.
September 9
872 - Earliest verifiable date of a Viking invasion of Ireland in Dunrally
1831 - 30,000 pounds is allocated to establish "national" system of elementary education in Ireland
1845 - The arrival of the potato blight in Ireland is reported in the Dublin Evening Post
1852 - The last day of the Tenant League Conference in Dublin
1893 - House of Lords rejects Second Home Rule Bill
1922 - The newly elected Daíl Éireann meets to frame its constitution and elects William T. Cosgrave
President of the Executive Committee
1963 - Cardinal William Conway becomes Primate of All Ireland
2001 - Three suspected IRA members - Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan - are
transferred from La Modelo federal prison to a high security jail in Bogota over fears for their safety
2002 - Castletown, Co. Laois, is declared Ireland’s Tidiest Town
In the liturgical calendar, this is the feast day of St. Kieran, founder of the great monastery at
Clonmacnois. He dies on this date in 545.
September 10
1315 - Battle of Connor. Major victory for Edward Bruce in his invasion of Ulster
1602 - "Red" Hugh O'Donnell dies in Simancas, Spain; evidence suggests he was poisoned by an
English spy
1641 - Oliver Cromwell seizes Drogheda
1763 - The Freeman's Journal is founded in Dublin by Charles Lucas
1831 - Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, Fenian, is born in Rosscarbery, Co. Cork
1850 - In Thurles, it is the final day of the first canonical synod of the Irish church, summoned by
Paul Cullen
1916 - While serving in the Dublin Fusiliers during World War I, Irish poet Tom Kettle dies in attack
on Ginchy
1919 - Dáil Éirean outlawed by the English as a "dangerous association."
1923 - The Irish Free State is admitted into the League of Nations
1985 - The first heart transplant takes place in Ireland
1998 - Students queue for food at an emergency soup kitchen and advice centre, set up in a bid to
ease the impact of the stress and strain caused by one of the greatest accommodation shortages
ever experienced in Dublin
2001 - Westport, Co. Mayo wins the Tidy Towns competition.
September 11
1649 - Massacre at Drogheda. Cromwell captures the town and slaughters the garrison
1919 - Dáil Eireann is suppressed as a ‘dangerous association’ by the British government and
membership is deemed to be a crime
1922 - Proportional representation for local elections is abolished in Northern Ireland
1998 - British troops are withdrawn from the streets of Belfast in response to the ongoing republican
and loyalist cease-fires
1998 - The Northern Ireland Office announces that more than 200 loyalist and republican prisoners
will be freed from the Maze Prison before the end of the year
2000 - Picturesque Kenmare completes a unique double by becoming the first town in the country to
take the prize as both Ireland’s Tidiest Town and Ireland’s Best Kept Town
2001 - President Mary McAleese goes on RTÉ Radio to express her shock and horror at the terrorist
attacks in the US. In the wake of the attacks, the government immediately begins reviewing security
arrangements
2002 - In a gesture of support and solidarity, schools, shops and businesses come to a symbolic halt
at 1.46pm - the precise moment, Irish time, that the first terrorist hijacked plane hit the North Tower of
the World Trade Center in NYC one year ago.
Sptember 12
1653 - Ireland and Scotland are represented by six and five members respectively in the 'Barebones'
parliament which is in effect from 4 July to this date
1798 - Rebels attack Castlebar and are repulsed
1919 - Dáil Éireann is declared illegal
1999 - It is announced that every household in Ireland is to receive a millennium candle to light when
the sun sets on New Year’s Eve
2001 - Irish aid agencies pull out of Afghanistan amid growing fears of a possible US retaliation on
the Taliban regime and Osama bin Laden
2001 - Families in Limerick take in American tourists grounded since 9/11 at Shannon Airport after all
flights in and out of the US are cancelled.
In the liturgical calendar, it is the feast day of St. Ailbe, Bishop of Emly, Tipperary.
September 13
1494 - Edward Poynings, best known for his introduction of "Poynings Law," which prevented the
Irish Parliament from meeting without royal permission and approval of its agenda, is appointed Lord
Deputy of Ireland
1803 - Death of John Barry, a native of Ballystampson, Co. Wexford, Commodore in the US Navy and
renowned as the Father of the American Navy
1903 - Padraic Pearse arrives in Ros Muc, County Galway and takes up residence at his cottage in
Inbhear
1912 - In a speech at Dundee, Winston Churchill announces his support of a policy of devolution for
Ireland, Scotland and Wales
1999 - Former US Senator George Mitchell returns to Northern Ireland as he embarks on the second
week of his review of the Good Friday Agreement
1999 - Clonakilty, Co. Cork wins the Tidy Town competition.
September 14
1607 - Hugh O'Neill, Ruari O'Donnell and other chiefs of their families depart Lough Swilly for the
continent in what has become known as the 'Flight of the Earls"
1647 - Lord Inchiquin, a royalist turned Parliamentarian, sacks the Irish Catholic Confederate
garrison at the Rock of Cashel
1752 - The Gregorian calendar is adopted in Ireland and Britain, 170 years after mainland Europe: 2
September is followed by 14 September. There are protests and riots by people who are convinced
that they have lost 12 days out of their lives
1907 - Edel Quinn, promoter of Legion of Mary in Africa, is born near Kanturk, Co. Cork
1971 - Ian Paisley founds the Democratic Unionist Party
1982 - Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, dies in a car crash
1994 - At a London auction, Bono pays $53,400 for Charlie Chaplin's costume from The Great
Dictator
1999 - Clonfert Cathedral which ranks in importance with the Great Pyramids and dates back to the
12th century, joins the millennium list of the 100 Most Endangered Monuments. The list is compiled
by The New York Times and in the past has included such famous landmarks as the Inca city of
Machu Picchu in Peru and the Aztec site of Teotihuacan in Mexico City
2001 - Following the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, as many as 15,000 Irish people are
stranded in the US and Canada awaiting flights to Ireland
2001 - The Irish government declares a national day of mourning; schools, businesses and shops
are shut down in an unprecedented gesture of sympathy following Tuesday's attack on the World
Trade Center.
September 15
1865 - Police raid and close the Irish People offices; Rossa, Luby and O'Leary are arrested
1866 - John Blake Dillon, Young Irelander and co-founder of The Nation, dies in Killarney
1881 - First soccer international in Ireland; England beats the Irish squad Total crowd receipts: £9.19
s.7d
1905 - Pat O'Callaghan, physician, hammer-thrower and first man to win an Olympic gold medal while
representing Ireland, is born near Kanturk, Co. Cork
2000 - Sonia O'Sullivan leads the Irish team at a spectacular Olympic opening ceremony in Sydney,
Australia
2001 - Aer Lingus, Delta and Continental Airlines resume services to and from Ireland. The first trans-
Atlantic flights to the US leave for New York, Newark, Chicago and Washington. Priority status is
given to all relatives of the victims and injured in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.
September 16
1732 - Birth in Castletown, Co. Clare of Thomas O'Gorman, physician, wine trader and courtier in
France; made a chevalier by Louis XV
1798 - Small French force under James Napper Tandy makes brief landing on Rutland Island, Co.
Donegal
1798 - Belfast United Irish leaders arrested
1845 - Death of Thomas Davis, revolutionary, poet, and political theorist
1865 - Fenian newspaper, Irish People, ceases publication
1925 - Charles Haughey, Fianna Fáil leader and Taoiseach, is born in Castlebar, Co. Mayo
1941 - Sixteen soldiers are killed in the Glen of Imaal, Co. Wicklow, while testing mines
1945 - World renowned Irish tenor, John McCormack, dies in Athlone
1998 - Irish-owned Musgrave Group becomes the biggest food distribution company in the country
after signing an historic franchise deal with supermarket chain Roches Stores
1998 - Books of condolences opened in the aftermath of the Omagh tragedy are closed. More than
150,000 people from across Northern Ireland are estimated to have signed the books.
September 17
1798 - 3000 French troops depart for Ireland from Brest
1930 - The Free State is elected to the council of the League of Nations
1937 - Ten young men, potato-pickers from Achill Island, die when a bothy catches fire on a farm at
Kirkintilloch, Scotland
1976 - The founders of the Peace Movement, Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams, are awarded the
Nobel Prize for Peace
1999 - Interest rates for thousands of home owners tumble as the mortgage war escalates
September 18
1867 - Kelly and Timothy Deasy are rescued in a Fenian attack on a police van in Manchester during
which a police sergeant is shot dead
1914 - Home Rule Act on Statute Book but is suspended for the duration of World War
1941 - Stephen Hayes, a former IRA chief of staff, is kidnapped on 30 June; he later claims to have
been 'court martialled' and tortured by the IRA; Seán McCaughey is convicted of his kidnapping on
this date
September 19
1757 - Having been funded by a bequest from Jonathan Swift, St Patrick's Hospital for the insane,
Dublin, is opened
1880 - Parnell delivers his famous speech at Ennis in which he introduces the term for non-violent
protest - boycotting. Parnell asked his audience, 'What are you to do with a tenant who bids for a
farm from which another has been evicted?' Several voices replied, 'shoot him!' Parnell answered: "I
wish to point out a better way, a more Christian way which will give the lost man an opportunity of
repenting. When a man takes a farm from which another has been evicted, you must shun him on
the roadside, on the streets, in the shop and even in the place of worship by putting him in a "moral
Coventry." You must show him your detestation of the crime he has committed"
2000 - Fishermen all around the coast tie up their boats in protest at the £15 million hike in their fuel
bill which, they claim, will put many of them out of business before Christmas.
Photo Credit: Denis Minihane
September 20
1689 - The Enniskillen Protestants defeat Jacobite forces at Boyle, Co. Roscommon
1803 - Robert Emmet, Irish patriot, is executed in Dublin. Emmet becomes a hero of Irish nationalists,
largely on the basis of his stirring speech from the dock: "Let no man write my epitaph...When my
country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then, and not till then let my epitaph be
written"
1847- Birth in Carron, Co. Clare of Michael Cusack, GAA founder
1918 - Republican newspapers are banned by English
1920 - Black and Tans raid Balbriggan, Co. Dublin
1920 - Kevin Barry is captured
1960 - Frederick H. Boland becomes president of the United Nations Assembly
1968 - Traffic wardens appear in Dublin for the first time.
September 21
1170 - MacMurrough and the Normans march on the Norse kingdom of Dublin, avoiding an Irish
force that awaits them to the south of it. Dublin falls to them on this date. Some Norsemen, including
the king of Dublin, Askulv, flee to the Hebrides or the Isle of Man
1601 - A Spanish army under Don Juan del Aguila lands at Kinsale
1703 - The first Irish parliament of Queen Anne is called; Alan Brodrick is unanimously elected
Speaker
1745 - The Jacobites are victorious at Prestonpans
1795 - 'Battle of the Diamond' between (Protestant) Peep o' Day Boys and (Catholic) Defenders near
Loughgall, Co. Armagh leaves 30 Defenders dead and leads to the foundation of the Loyal Orange
Institution (later the Orange Order) '...to defend the King and his heirs as long as they shall maintain
the Protestant ascendancy'
1881- Revolutionary Éamonn Ceannt, is born in Glenamaddy, County Galway
1949 - The Republic of Ireland soccer team beats England 2-0 at Goodison Park - England’s first
defeat by a foreign side
1999 - Delegations from the Ulster Unionist Party and Sinn Féin meet at Stormont for their first direct
talks in two months
1999 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern pledges support for Arafat and the Palestinians
2000 - Gardaí arrest a man in connection with the bombing of Nelson’s Pillar in O’Connell Street,
Dublin, 34 years ago
2001 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern announces that Ireland will put its airports, airspace, refuelling
facilities and garda intelligence at the disposal of the US in the battle against terrorism.
2006: Golfing history on Irish soil.
The Ryder Cup officially opens at the K Club in Co. Kildare. It is the first time golf's premier team
tournament has come to Ireland and to date, it is the biggest sporting event ever staged in the
country.
September 22
1601 - Battle of Kinsale
1626 - Charles I offers twenty-six concessions ("graces") to the Irish in return for subsidies to expand
his army
1798 - Colonel Trench marches from Castlebar and takes Ballina
1884 - The gunboat HMS Wasp is wrecked off Tory Island, Co. Donegal, with the loss of 52 lives;
there are eight survivors
1920 - Mid-Clare Brigade, IRA, kill six policemen near Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare
1928 - The first professional artist ever to appear on British television, Irishwoman Miss Peg O’Neil,
gives "a charming entertainment, chatting and smiling, and telling Irish stories." The broadcast takes
place at Olympia on the first day of the Radio Exhibition
1999 - Ferry sailings resume following unofficial 24 hour strike action by SIPTU members which
disrupted sailings out of Dublin and Rosslare, affecting almost 1,000 passengers
2001 - High-ranking British and Spanish diplomats join President McAleese and Britain's Prince
Andrew to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Battle of Kinsale
September 23
1586 - At the battle of Ardnaree in Co. Mayo, Sir Richard Bingham, governor of Connacht, surprises
a force of redshanks (Scottish mercenary light infantrymen) engaged by the Burkes of Mayo; 1,000
redshanks and 1,000 camp followers are killed. Bingham hangs the leaders of the Burkes
1641 - The Gaelic Catholics of Ulster stage an uprising against the Scottish Presbyterian planters
1798 - Second Battle of Killala. Final surrender of combined French and Irish forces to the English
1992 - The IRA destroys Belfast's forensic science laboratory with a huge bomb
2001 - Kevin Boland, who resigned from the Fianna Fáil Government during the 1970 Arms Crisis,
dies after a short illness. He was the son of Gerald Boland, a 1916 veteran, confidant of Eamon de
Valera, and long-time FF government minister; his uncle was the celebrated War of Independence
hero, Harry Boland
2002 - The Listowel Races in Co. Kerry begin. For the first year in its history, which dates to 1858, it
will be a seven-day meeting.
September 24
1661 - Faithful Tadpole is admitted as a clerical vicar choral of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin
1786 - Birth of Charles Bianconi, Irish passenger-car entrepreneur
1880 - Mayo agent, Captain Charles Boycott, was sent to a 'moral Coventry.' He described his plight
in a letter to The Times: "...people collect in crowds upon my farm and order off all my workmen. The
shopkeepers have been warned to stop all supplies to my house. My farm is public property, I can
get no workmen to do anything, and my ruin is openly avowed as the object of the Land League
unless I throw up everything and leave the country"
1959 - Ireland's first Ban Garda recruit - woman police-officer - is introduced to RTÉ listeners
1998 - Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne admits that the Real IRA leaders who ordered the Omagh
bombing will probably never be prosecuted
September 25
1697 - During William III's reign, Catholic clergy are banished by Act of Parliament
1917 - Thomas Ashe dies in the Mater Hospital in Dublin from the combined effects of a hunger
strike and forced feeding at Mountjoy Jail. The following famous and much repeated Sean O’Casey
quote "You cannot put a rope around the neck of an idea... you cannot confine it in the strongest
prison cell that your slaves could ever build." was made on the subject of the death of Thomas Ashe
1961 - Ronnie Whelan, Home Farm, Liverpool, Reading and Republic of Ireland footballer, is born in
Dublin
1983 - 38 IRA prisoners break out of the Maze prison, 19 succeed in escaping
1999 - Sam Tamsanguan from Wilton’s Restaurant in London wins the world oyster opening
championship title at the 45th annual Galway Oyster Festival
1999 - Protestant civil rights marchers blatantly defy a Belfast City Council ban to lay a wreath at the
cenotaph to the victims of the Troubles during the so-called Long March
2000 - Sonia O'Sullivan wins a silver medal in the 5,000 meters at the Olympic Games in Sydney,
Australia
September 26
1289 - 'All men of good will to the king', both Irish and English, in Munster and Leinster are
summoned to Buttevant in Leix (Queen's County). A ten-day expedition which begins on this date,
subdues and forces the local Irish into an uneasy peace
1902 - James Dillon, politician and Fine Gael leader is born in Dublin
1930 - Saor Éire, a republican/socialist party, is founded by Peadar O'Donnell, Seán MacBride and
other IRA members; it, the IRA and ten other organizations are declared illegal in the Free State on
23 October, and the Catholic Church excommunicates members of all 12 organizations. Saor Éire is
soon dissolved
1932 - De Valera opens the 13th Assembly of the League of Nations in Geneva
1957 - Shamrock Rovers become the first League of Ireland team to play in the European Cup —
they lose 6-0 to Manchester United
2000 - Financier George Finbar Ross, whose Gibraltar-based International Investments company
went bust in the mid-eighties owning millions to Irish investors, is cleared of the bulk of the charges
against him
2001 - Thousands of teachers will be docked up to £500 each because of industrial action they took
prior to last year's State exams
In the liturgical calendar, today is Feast day of St. Colman.
September 27
1662 - An "act for encouraging Protestant strangers and others to inhabit and plant in the kingdom
of Ireland" is passed in the Irish Parliament under Charles II
1891 - Charles Stewart Parnell makes his last public appearance at Creggs, Co. Galway
1999 - The Tipperary Rural and Business Development Institute opens in Thurles, Co Tipperary
2000 - Thirty-three years after it was made, censors lift the ban on a film adaptation of James Joyce’s
epic novel Ulysses
2001 - British Airways announces it is to close its Belfast-Heathrow route with 160 job losses. BA's
decision also means it will suspend its daily service to Gatwick from Shannon and Cork
2001 - Entrepreneur Denis O'Brien is ordered to leave the Oireachtas committee inquiring into the
CIE rail signalling project after telling Deputy Seán Doherty he is unfit to be its chairman.
September 28
1678 - 'Popish plot' is alleged in England
1690 - Marlborough takes Cork for the Williamites
1703 - Francis Annesley is expelled from the Irish Commons for his part in The Report of the
Commissioners appointed by Parliament into the Irish Forfeitures, printed in London, containing the
paragraph: 'And indeed it does appear to us, that the Freeholders of this Kingdom, through length of
time and by contracting new friendship with the Irish, or by inter-purchasing with one another, but
chiefly through a general dislike of the disposition of the forfeitures, are scarce willing to find any
person guilty of the late rebellion, even upon full evidence.' The House has found that Annesley
'scandalously and maliciously misrepresented and traduced the Protestant Freeholders of this
Kingdom and thereby endeavoured to create a misunderstanding and jealousy between the people
of England and the Protestants of this Kingdom'
1912 - Edward Carson, leader of Ulster Unionists, stages signing of "Southern League and
Covenant" against Irish Home Rule
1920 - Cork No. 2 Brigade, IRA, attacks and captures a military barracks in Mallow, Co. Cork. English
forces later burn and sack the town
1960 - RTÉ broadcasts a report on the re-opening of Bunratty Castle to the public after extensive
refurbishing
1978 - Pope John Paul I dies after just 33 days in office aged 65 - the shortest reign in the entire
history of the Papacy
1998 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern vows to hand over all necessary papers to the Flood Tribunal
investigation into alleged planning irregularities
1998 - The final strains of the Last Post symbolically close a 200-year-old military history in Fermoy
and Ballincollig as the Tricolour is lowered and the troops leave the barracks. Both camps are
closing and the soldiers are being transferred to Cork
1999 - The home of dual Olympian and arguably Ireland’s greatest ever athlete, the late Dr Pat O’
Callaghan, is demolished in his adopted Clonmel to make way for a Rehab training facility
1999 - Larchill Arcadian Gardens in Co. Kildare win's the top prize in the ESB Community
Environment Awards
2000 - According to official figures, the number of mobile telephone connections in Ireland exceeds
the fixed line total for the first time
September 29
1155 - A proposal for the invasion of Ireland by Henry II is discussed at the Council of Winchester
and rejected, though soon after, Henry obtains a papal privilege approving the invasion
1603 - Rory O'Donnell kisses the king's hand and is created Earl of Tyrconnell
1778 - Birth in Dublin of Catherine McAuley, founder of the Sisters of Mercy
1798 - Tandy and other Irish political prisoners in Hamburg are handed over to British authorities
1826 - Charles Cornwallis Chesney, professor of military history, is born in Kilkeel, Co. Down
1929 - The last active Fenian, John Devoy, dies
1930 - George Bernard Shaw refuses a peerage
1979 - Pope John Paul II arrives in Dublin for the first ever papal visit to Ireland
2002 - In Co. Wicklow, five paintings, including two by the renowned artist, Rubens, are stolen in
another raid on Russborough House which has a history of art thefts.
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast of St. Michael, the Archangel.
September 30
1430 - A great council meets at Dublin on on this date; it states that Irish enemies and English rebels
have conquered almost all of Limerick, Tipperary, Kilkenny, Wexford, Carlow, Kildare, Meath and
Louth, so that hardly anything but Co. Dublin remains in the colony
1691 - The first recorded meeting of the Presbyterian general synod of Ulster is held at Antrim
1900 - Arthur Griffith forms Cumann na nGaedheal, which later becomes Sinn Féin
1959 - World premiere of the Sean O’Riada’s film Mise Éire, at Cork Film Festival
1994 - Michael Flannery, Irish patriot, dies in New York City
2001 - Ireland assumes presidency of the United Nation's Security Council
2001 - Thousands of Irish, New Yorkers and Irish-Americans pay tribute to the many Irish people who
died in the terrorist attacks. Bishop John Buckley of Cork celebrated the mass with the Bishop of
Killaloe at the Roman Catholic Holy Trinity church in Manhattan.
Tralee Times
selected events in Irish History:
SEPTEMBER
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