1930 in Ireland

Incumbents

• Governor-General: James McNeill
• President of the Executive Council: W. T. Cosgrave

  Events

Arts and literature

• 1 July – George Shiels' play The New Gossoon is premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.
• 28 August – a painting by the Dutch artist Rembrandt, found in an Irish cottage, is authenticated.
• Samuel Beckett's first separately issued work, the poem Whoroscope, is published by Nancy Cunard's Hours Press in France.
• George Moore publishes Aphrodite in Aulis and A Flood.
• 'Æ' publishes Enchantment, and Other Poems.

  Sport

Football

• ;League of Ireland
• :Winners: Bohemians
• ;FAI Cup
• :Winners: Shamrock Rovers 1 – 0 Brideville

  Golf

• Irish Open is won by Charles Whitcombe.

  Births

• 4 January – Tras Honan, Fianna Fáil politician, twice Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann
• 7 January – Justin Keating, senior Irish Labour Party politician, Teachta Dála, Cabinet Minister, Member of the European Parliament and member of Seanad Éireann
• 12 January – Jennifer Johnston, novelist and playwright
• 18 January – Breandán Ó hEithir, journalist and broadcaster working in Irish and English languages
• 22 February – David Cremin, Bishop Emeritus of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney
• March – Fergus O'Brien, Fine Gael TD and Minister of State
• 13 March – Don Cockburn, television newsreader
• 1 April – Frank Cluskey, leader of the Irish Labour Party
• 12 April – Patrick Pery, 6th Earl of Limerick, peer and public servant
• 26 April – Jack Fitzsimons, architect, member of Seanad Éireann and campaigner
• 10 May – William McDermott, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Huancavélica, Peru
• 13 June – Billy Ringrose, equestrian
• 28 June – William C. Campbell, parasitologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 13 August – Frank Durkan, lawyer in the United States
• 19 August – Frank McCourt, teacher and writer
• 29 August – Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh, Gaelic games commentator for Radio Telifís Éireann
• 30 August – Kieran Crotty, Fine Gael TD
• 9 September – Des Hanafin, Fianna Fáil politician, member of Seanad Éireann
• 26 September – Joe Sherlock, Labour Party TD
• 1 October – Richard Harris, actor
• 5 October - Sean Potts, tin whistle player with The Chieftains
• 11 October – Joan O'Hara, actress
• 22 October – Philomena Lynott, entrepreneur and memoirist
• 23 October – Thomas Flanagan, Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of San Antonio
• 4 November – Gerry Duffy, cricketer
• 17 November – Brian Lenihan, Fianna Fáil TD, Cabinet Minister, senator and presidential candidate
• 15 December – Edna O'Brien, novelist and short story writer
• ;Full date unknown
• :*Edward Delaney, sculptor
• :*Maeve Kelly, writer
• :*Seán Ó Coisdealbha, poet, playwright and actor
• :*Bertie Troy, priest, hurler and All-Ireland winning manager with Cork

  Deaths

• 26 September – Dick Fitzgerald, Kerry Gaelic footballer
• 29 September – Bryan Mahon, British Army general, Commander-in-Chief, Ireland and Senator
• 1 October – James Whiteside McCay, Lieutenant General in the Australian Army, member of the Victorian and Australian Parliaments
• 31 October – Pierce Charles de Lacy O'Mahony, Nationalist politician, barrister and philanthropist
• 30 November – Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, labor and community organizer, member of the Industrial Workers of the World, and socialist in the United States