1989 in Ireland

Incumbents

• President: Patrick Hillery
• Taoiseach: Charles Haughey
• Tánaiste: Brian Lenihan
• Minister for Finance: Albert Reynolds
• Chief Justice: Thomas Finlay
• Dáil:
• * 25th
• * 26th
• Seanad:
• * 18th
• * 19th

  Events

• 2 January – Dundalk, County Louth celebrated its 1200-year heritage.
• 12 February – Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane was shot dead by loyalists.
• 20 March – Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan of the Royal Ulster Constabulary were killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. An inquiry concluded in 2013 that a member or members of the Garda Síochána probably colluded in the ambush.
• 21 March – three Irish soldiers on United Nations duty were killed in a landmine explosion in southern Lebanon.
• 21 April - People In Need Telethon makes its debut.
• 11 May – at a meeting in Malahide Castle between Taoiseach Charles Haughey and visiting Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Haughey promised Ortega support at the European Council of Ministers for aid and investment for his country despite an earlier telephone call from U.S. secretary of state James Baker urging Haughey to take a tough position against Ortega over democratic standards in Nicaragua.
• 22 June – an order was signed creating the University of Limerick, the first university founded since the foundation of the state; later in the day Dublin City University was created.
• 29 June – Charles Haughey resigned as Taoiseach, remaining on in a caretaker capacity.
• 19 August – ten thousand people marched from Dublin city centre to the British Embassy calling for British withdrawal from Northern Ireland.
• 19 October – three of the Guildford Four were released in London. Paul Hill was immediately re-arrested.
• 26 November - the first edition of The Sunday Business Post newspapers was published in Dublin.
• 21 December – Aer Rianta's five millionth passenger was presented with a holiday to Florida.

  Arts and literature

• 4 April – the Windmill Lane Consortium said that if it got the franchise it would be on the air within 9 to 12 months with its television station, TV3.
• 1 September – contemporary music radio station Atlantic 252 went on air for the first time from the long wave Clarkstown radio transmitter in County Meath.
• 4 September – independent pop music station Century Radio went on the air for the first time.
• 18 September – television soap opera Fair City was first broadcast on RTÉ One.
• 10 November – the film My Left Foot: the story of Christy Brown was released, directed by Jim Sheridan. Daniel Day-Lewis and Brenda Fricker won Academy Awards for their performances; others featured in the film included Fiona Shaw, Julie Hale, Cyril Cusack, Kirsten Sheridan and the late Ray McAnally.
• MidWest Radio began broadcasting as a licensed station in County Mayo.
• John Banville's novel The Book of Evidence was published.

  Sport

Golf

• Carroll's Irish Open was won by Ian Woosnam.

  Gaelic football

• The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final ended on a scoreline of Cork GAA 0-17 Mayo GAA 1-11

  Hurling

• The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final ended on a scoreline of Tipperary GAA 4-24 Antrim GAA 3-9.

  Soccer

• 11 October – the Republic of Ireland beat Northern Ireland 3-0 in a World Cup Qualifier in Dublin.
• 15 November – the Republic of Ireland won 2–0 in Malta to secure qualification for the World Cup for the first time.

  Births

• 8 January – Ian Bermingham, soccer player
• 3 March – Barry O'Rorke, Gaelic footballer and hurler
• 17 March – Patrick Curtin, Gaelic footballer
• 9 June – Chloë Agnew, singer
• 12 June – Nickie Quaid, hurler
• 4 August – Michael Murphy, Gaelic footballer
• 14 October – Barry Hennessy, hurler.
• 28 December – Jessie Buckley, actress and singer

  Deaths

• 24 January – Michael Scott, architect.
• 27 January – Dónall Mac Amhlaigh, writer.
• January – Jackie Wright, comedian.
• 11 March – Simon Curley, cricketer.
• 7 April – Frank Cluskey, former leader of the Labour Party.
• 3 May – John Mackey, Limerick hurler.
• 15 June – Ray McAnally, actor.
• July – Eddie Gannon, soccer player.
• 3 August – Dominic Behan, songwriter, novelist and playwright.
• 10 August – H. Montgomery Hyde, barrister, author and Ulster Unionist MP.
• 12 September – Seamus Twomey, twice chief of staff of the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
• 4 November – Vivian Mercier, literary critic.
• 14 December – Gerry Healy, British Trotskyist leader.
• 22 December – Samuel Beckett, Nobel Prize in Literature 1969, playwright, novelist and poet.

  Full date unknown

• Hugh T. Baker, cricketer.