1936 in Ireland

Incumbents

• Governor-General: Domhnall Ua Buachalla
• President of the Executive Council: Éamon de Valera

  Events

• 9 February – Brian de Valera, third son of Éamon de Valera, dies in a riding accident, aged 21.
• 5 March – five hundred delegates attend the Fine Gael Árd-Feis in Dublin. W. T. Cosgrave is once again nominated as its president.
• 4 April – a dispute between two unions over who makes coffins results in the coffin of an abandoned infant being turned away from Glasnevin Cemetery.
• 27 May – Aer Lingus makes its first flight. The five-seater plane, Iolar, travels from Baldonnel Aerodrome to Bristol.
• 28 May – the Dáil passes a motion abolishing the Senate of the Irish Free State.
• 20 June – the Irish Republican Army is declared an illegal organisation by the government.
• 6 September – the new Roman Catholic Christ the King Cathedral, Mullingar, is dedicated.
• 20 November – General Eoin O'Duffy leads six hundred men in his Bandera to fight for Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War.
• December – first Irish socialist volunteers in the Spanish Civil War leave the Irish ports to fight for the Republican faction, initially on the Córdoba front.
• 11 December – the Oireachtas of the Irish Free State passes the Constitution Act 1936, removing most powers from the office of Governor-General of the Irish Free State with the intention of abolishing the post.
• 12 December – the Oireachtas's Executive Authority Act 1936 is signed into law, assenting to the abdication of Edward VIII of the United Kingdom and restricting the power of the monarch in relation to Ireland to international affairs.

  Arts and literature

• Elizabeth Bowen publishes her novel The House in Paris.
• Austin Clarke publishes his second novel The Singing-Men at Cashel; like the first, it is prohibited in Ireland by the Censorship of Publications Board.
• Teresa Deevy's play Katie Roche premieres.
• James Joyce publishes his Collected Poems.
• Patrick Kavanagh publishes Ploughman, and Other Poems.
• Harry Kernoff paints In Davy's Parlour Snug: Self portrait with Davy Byrne and Martin Murphy.
• Cecil Day-Lewis publishes his poetry Noah and the Waters.
• Lord Longford founds the Longford Players.
• Louis MacNeice publishes his translation of The Agamemnon of Aeschylus.
• Seán Ó Faoláin publishes his novel Bird Alone; it is prohibited in Ireland by the Censorship of Publications Board.
• Peig Sayers publishes her autobiography Peig.
• George Shiels' plays The Passing Day and The Jailbird are first produced.
• W. B. Yeats delivers broadcast lectures on the BBC, makes recordings of his own verse and edits The Oxford Book of Modern Verse 1892-1935.
• Literary magazine Ireland Today, edited by Frank O'Connor, begins publication.
• The Dawn is released; directed by Tom Cooper, it is the first sound film made in Ireland by an Irish company.

  Sport

Football

• ;League of Ireland
• :Winners: Bohemians
• ;FAI Cup
• :Winners: Shamrock Rovers 2–1 Cork

  Golf

• Irish Open is won by Reg Whitcombe.

  Births

• January – Syd Cheatle, playwright and novelist.
• 30 January – Howard Kilroy, businessman.
• 2 February – Fergal O'Hanlon, Irish Republican Army member.
• 2 February – Tony Ryan, businessman and philanthropist, founder of Guinness Peat Aviation and a founder of Ryanair.
• 12 February – Monica Barnes, former Fine Gael Teachta Dála.
• 17 February – Joe Haverty, soccer player.
• 18 February – Ciarán Bourke, musician, an original member of The Dubliners.
• 3 March – Christopher Jones, Bishop of Elphin.
• 11 March – Pat Brady, soccer player.
• 15 March – David Andrews, former Fianna Fáil TD, Cabinet Minister and Chairman of the Irish Red Cross.
• March – Vincent Brady, Fianna Fáil politician, Government Chief Whip and Minister for Defence.
• 1 April – Gerry O'Sullivan, Labour Party TD, Minister of State and Lord Mayor of Cork.
• 7 April – Mick McGrath, soccer player and manager.
• 19 April – Séamus Pattison, Labour Party TD and Ceann Comhairle.
• 1 May – Colm Hilliard, Fianna Fáil TD.
• 7 May – Tony O'Reilly, rugby player and businessman.
• 8 May – Michael O'Leary, Tánaiste and Labour Party leader.
• 6 June – William Murphy, Bishop of Kerry.
• 8 June – Michael O'Leary, leader of the Labour Party, Tánaiste and Cabinet Minister.
• 9 June – Mick O'Dwyer, Gaelic footballer and manager.
• 15 June – Gerry Culliton, rugby player.
• 1 July – Gerard Brady, senior Fianna Fáil politician, Minister for Education.
• 5 July – Brendan Halligan, economist and Labour Party politician.
• 6 July – Dave Allen, comedian.
• 9 July – Bobby Molloy, Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrats TD and Cabinet Minister.
• 13 August – James Moriarty, Bishop of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin.
• 23 August – Godfrey Graham, cricketer.
• 1 September – Jim Kemmy, Labour Party and Democratic Socialist Party TD.
• 15 September – Máirín Quill, Progressive Democrats TD.
• 18 September – Big Tom, country singer and musician.
• 24 September – John Magee SPS, Bishop of Cloyne, private secretary to Pope John Paul II.
• 27 September – Barry Cogan, Fianna Fáil TD and Senator.
• 5 October – Brian Hannon, Bishop of Clogher from 1986 to 2001.
• 21 October – William Parsons, 7th Earl of Rosse, peer.
• 27 November – Feargal Quinn, businessman, founder of Superquinn, independent member of Seanad Éireann.
• 12 December – Noel Sheridan, actor, artist, Director National College of Art and Design.
• 16 December – Jim Fitzsimons, Fianna Fáil TD, Cabinet Minister and MEP.
• ;Full date unknown
• :*Brian Bourke, artist.
• :*Brendan Kennelly, poet and novelist, Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College Dublin.
• :*Patrick Masterson, writer and Professor, University College Dublin.
• :*Mattie McDonagh, Gaelic footballer with Galway.

  Deaths

• 10 January – William Kenny, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1914 near Ypres, Belgium.
• 20 January – George V of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
• 26 January – Francis O'Neill, police officer in America and collector of Irish traditional music.
• February – Harry Corley, cricketer.
• 20 March – Justin Huntly McCarthy, politician and author.
• 24 March – Henry Boyle Townshend Somerville, Royal Navy Hydrographic Surveyor, murdered by Irish Republican Army.
• 6 June – Eamonn Duggan, solicitor, nationalist, member 1st Dáil , representing South Meath, Minister for Home Affairs .
• 14 July – William Cosgrove, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1915 at the Battle of Gallipoli, Turkey.
• 14 July – Patrick Hogan, Sinn Féin and Cumann na nGaedheal TD.
• 22 July – Sir Osmond Esmonde, 12th Baronet, diplomat and politician.
• 29 July – Frank Gavan Duffy, fourth Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia.
• 8 September – John Sweetman, politician, a founder of Sinn Féin and second President of the party in 1908.
• 27 October – William Morgan Jellett, Irish Unionist MP in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
• 30 November – Jimmy Elwood, footballer.
• 1 December – Hugh Kennedy, only Attorney-General of Southern Ireland, first Attorney-General of the Irish Free State and first Chief Justice of the Irish Free State.
• 16 December – Lowry Hamilton, cricketer.
• ;Full date unknown
• :*Margaretta Eagar, nurse for the four daughters of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra and memoirist.