Events from the year 1919 in Ireland.
Events
21 January – Dáil Éireann meets for the very first time in the Round Room of the Mansion House, Dublin. It comprises Sinn Féin members elected in the 1918 general election who, in accordance with their manifesto, have not taken their seats in the Parliament of the United Kingdom but chosen to declare an independent Irish Republic. In the first shots of the Irish War of Independence, two Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) members are killed by Volunteers of the Third Tipperary Brigade in the Soloheadbeg Ambush in Tipperary. 27 January – general strike call over working hours led by engineering workers in Glasgow and Belfast; in Belfast the strike collapses after a month. 3 February – Éamon de Valera, the leader of Sinn Féin, John Milroy and John McGarry escaped from Lincoln Prison in England in a break arranged by Sinn Féin members including Michael Collins and Harry Boland. 1 April – fifty-two members of Sinn Féin attend the second meeting of Dáil Éireann. Seán T. O'Kelly is elected Ceann Comhairle and Éamon de Valera is elected President of Dáil Éireann. 2 April – Constance Markievicz is appointed Minister for Labour, becoming the first Irish female Cabinet Minister (the only one for sixty years) and the first in Western Europe. 15–19 April – "Limerick Soviet": a general strike called by the Limerick Trades and Labour Council, as a protest against the declaration of a "Special Military Area" under the Defence of the Realm Act covering of most of the city of Limerick and its surroundings. 18 April – 1,000 delegates from all over Ireland attend the Sinn Féin Ard-Fheis in Dublin. Éamon de Valera is elected President of the organisation. 19 April – Sinn Féin proposes an Executive Council of the Irish National Alliance to challenge the right of any foreign parliament to make laws for Ireland. 13 May – two Royal Irish Constabulary members are killed and Irish Republican Army volunteers, Dan Breen and Seán Treacy are wounded while rescuing Seán Hogan from a guarded train carriage at Knocklong, County Limerick. 17 May – the first Republican law court is set up, at Ballinrobe, County Mayo. 14 June – Captain Alcock and Lieutenant Brown arrive in Clifden, County Galway following their 1,900-mile transatlantic flight. 18 June – Dáil establishes the National Arbitration Courts. 30 July – first assassination of a Royal Irish Constabulary officer carried out by The Squad (Irish Republican Army unit), newly formed under the orders of Michael Collins, when Detective Sergeant Pat "the Dog" Smyth of G division is shot near Drumcondra, Dublin. 12 August – St Colman's Cathedral, Cobh, is consecrated. 8 September – "The sack of Fermoy": drunken British forces rampage through Fermoy following an inquest on the previous death of a British soldier which fails to find for murder. 12 September – Dáil Éireann is declared illegal by the British authorities. There are raids on Sinn Féin centres and Ernest Blythe is arrested. 4 November – the British Cabinet's Irish Committee settles on a policy of creating two Home Rule parliaments – one in Dublin and one in Belfast – with a Council of Ireland to provide a framework for possible unity. 12 November – Mitchelstown Creameries, predecessor of Dairygold, opens for business as a co-operative. 19 December – volunteers from Dublin and Tipperary under the leadership of Paddy Daly undertake an ambush on Lord French's motorcade of three cars at Ashtown Road in Dublin. Lord French is the British Viceroy, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Supreme Commander of the British Army in Ireland. While three of French's party – two RIC and a driver – are wounded, French gets through unharmed. Volunteer Martin Savage is killed and Dan Breen wounded. 23 December – Irish Land (Provision for Soldiers and Sailors) Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, empowering the Irish Land Commission to provide housing for any men who had served in the British forces. Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, previously Chief Rabbi of Belfast, is appointed to serve in Dublin.