1937 in Ireland

Incumbents

• President of the Executive Council: Éamon de Valera
• Taoiseach: Éamon de Valera

  Events

• 22 January – the National Council of Women of Ireland is agitating for the formation of a women's police force.
• 8 April – all political parties and Church leaders gather at the Mansion House, Dublin to pay tribute to the Chief Rabbi, Dr. Yitzhak Herzog, who is leaving to take up the new post of Chief Rabbi of the British Mandate of Palestine.
• 6-27 February – Battle of Jarama : The Connolly Column and other Irish volunteers take part.
• 14 April – the Minister for Finance, Seán MacEntee, delivers his budget. He reduces the costs of butter, sugar and tea.
• 30 April – Éamon de Valera introduces the new Constitution of Ireland. It recognises the institution of marriage and the family and prohibits divorce, as well as recognising the special position of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. It also recognises Judaism and other minority faiths. Although drafted in English, the Irish translation, made initially by Mícheál Ó Gríobhtha, will have legal priority.
• 11 May – the Constitution Bill receives its second reading in Dáil Éireann. Éamon de Valera dismisses claims that the Constitution provided for a dictatorship.
• 13 May – a bronze statue of King George II of Great Britain on St Stephen's Green, Dublin, is blown to pieces.
• 25 May – an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland proposing membership of the British Commonwealth is rejected.
• 8 June – Executive Powers Act 1937 passed by the Oireachtas retrospectively abolishing the office of Governor-General of the Irish Free State and providing for a pension for the last office-holder, who was Domhnall Ua Buachalla.
• 14 June – the Draft Constitution is passed in the Dáil by 62 votes to 48. The Eighth Dáil is also dissolved and a general election is called.
• 30 June – Éamon de Valera winds up an election tour with a huge rally on College Green, Dublin.
• 1 July – Fianna Fáil wins the general election. The plebiscite on the Constitution of Ireland is passed by 56.5% of voters.
• 5 July – Éamon de Valera and Seán Lemass inspect the flying boat Caledonia before its survey flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
• 26 August – The Irish Times newspaper publishes its 25,000th edition in Dublin.
• 27 August – Dublin's first automatic traffic lights come into operation at the junction of Merrion Square and Clare Street.
• 12 October – Kathleen Clarke addresses the Fianna Fáil Ardfheis, telling the party that it is moving away from its original values of republicanism.
• 10 November – the text of a new bill providing a seal of office for the President of Ireland is introduced in Dáil Éireann.
• 6 December – the Seal of the President of Ireland is photographed for archive purposes.
• 11 December – the Kelly Line steamer Annagher sinks at Ballymacormick Point with the loss of nine crew and only one survivor.
• 29 December – the new Constitution of Ireland comes into force. The Irish Free State becomes the Republic of Ireland, to be known as "Ireland", and Éamon de Valera becomes the first Taoiseach of the new state. A Presidential Commission assumes the powers of the new presidency, pending the election of the first President of Ireland in June 1938. A 21-gun salute is fired from the Royal Hospital Kilmainham and the tricolour flag of Ireland flies over all public buildings.

  Arts and literature

• April – writers Elizabeth Bowen and Seán Ó Faoláin first meet, in London.
• 29 September – French playwright Antonin Artaud is expelled from Ireland.
• Samuel Beckett leaves Ireland to settle in Paris.
• The national radio station, Radio Athlone, is renamed Radio Éireann.
• Norah Hoult publishes her novel Coming from the Fair.
• Robert Lloyd Praeger publishes his memoir The Way That I Went: An Irishman in Ireland.

  Sport

Football

• ;League of Ireland
• :Winners: Sligo Rovers
• ;FAI Cup
• :Winners: Waterford 2–1 St James' Gate

  Gaelic Athletic Association

• ;All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
• :Winners: Kerry 4–4 v Cavan 1–7
• ;All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
• :Winners: Tipperary 3–11 v Kilkenny 0–3

  Golf

• Irish Open is won by Bert Gadd.

  Births

• 4 January – Mick O'Connell, Kerry Gaelic footballer.
• 2 April – Theo Foley, footballer.
• 27 April – Robin Eames, Church of Ireland Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh from 1986 to 2006.
• 20 May – Benjamin Guinness, 3rd Earl of Iveagh, hereditary peer and Seanad member.
• 31 May – Mary O'Rourke, Fianna Fáil TD and Cabinet Minister.
• 1 June – Rosaleen Linehan, actress.
• 3 June – Ray Brady, soccer player.
• 13 July – Ollie Walsh, Kilkenny hurler.
• 19 August – Niall Andrews, Fianna Fáil TD and MEP.
• 8 September – Joe Carolan, footballer.
• 26 September – Seán Fallon, Fianna Fáil politician, Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann from 1992 until his death.
• October – Richard Johnton, President of the High Court.
• 24 November – Dónall Farmer, actor.
• 15 December – Rodney Bernstein, cricketer.
• 25 December – Noel Furlong, businessman and poker player.

  Deaths

• 31 January – Samuel Edgar, cricketer.
• 3 February – Thomas Moles, Ulster Unionist MP.
• 19 February – Leonard Molloy, soldier, doctor, M.P..
• 27 February – Charles Donnelly, poet, killed at the Jarama Front, Spanish Civil War.
• 7 March – Tomás Ó Criomhthain, writer and fisherman.
• 1 May – Herbert Hughes, musicologist, composer and critic.
• 27 June – Arthur Douglas, cricketer and rugby player.
• 14 July – Thomas Myles, surgeon, Home Ruler, involved in importation of arms for the Irish Volunteers in 1914.
• 5 November – Jack McAuliffe, boxer.
• 23 November – Con Collins, Sinn Féin MP.