1914 in Ireland - Events

Events

• 17 January - Edward Carson inspects a parade of the East Belfast Regiment of the Ulster Volunteers.
• 20 February - The Fethard-on-Sea life-boat capsizes on service off the County Wexford coast: nine crew are lost.
• 1 March - Three outbreaks of foot and mouth disease are confirmed in County Cork.
• 9 March - The British Prime Minister proposes to allow the Ulster counties to hold a vote on whether or not to join a Home Rule parliament in Dublin.
• 20 March - Curragh incident: British Army officers stationed at the Curragh Camp resign their commissions rather than be ordered to resist action by Unionist Ulster Volunteers if the Home Rule Bill is passed. The government backs down and they are reinstated.
• 2 April - Cumann na mBan, the Irish republican women's paramilitary organisation, is formed in Dublin as an auxiliary of the Irish Volunteers.
• 6 April - The second reading of the Home Rule Bill is carried in Westminster.
• 24–25 April - Larne Gun Running: 35,000 rifles and over 3 million rounds of ammunition from Germany are landed at Larne, Bangor and Donaghadee for the Ulster Volunteers and quickly distributed around Ulster by motor transport.
• 25 May - The House of Commons of the United Kingdom passes the Irish Home Rule Bill.
• 23 June–14 July - The Government of Ireland Bill passes through the House of Lords. It allows Ulster counties to vote on whether or not they want to come under Dublin's jurisdiction. The wishes of Fermanagh and Tyrone are eventually ignored.
• 10 July - The Provisional Government of Ulster meets for the first time in the Ulster Hall. It vows "to keep Ulster in trust" for the British Empire.
• 21 July - A conference is opened at Buckingham Palace by the King. It is hoped that unionists and nationalists attending will break the impasse over Home Rule.
• 24 July - The Buckingham Palace conference ends in failure. Nationalists and Unionists present cannot agree in principle or detail.
• 26 July - Howth gun-running: Erskine Childers and his wife Molly sail into Howth in his yacht Asgard and land 2,500 guns for the Irish Volunteers.
• September - Ulster Division formed as a division of the British New Army from Ulster Volunteers.
• 18 September - The Government of Ireland Act receives Royal Assent but is postponed (as projected on 30 July) for the duration of World War I by the simultaneous Suspensory Act and in practice never comes into effect in its original form.
• 20 September - In a speech at Woodenbridge, County Wicklow, John Redmond calls on members of the Irish Volunteers to enlist in the National Volunteers as part of the British New Army. The majority do so, fighting in the 10th and 16th (Irish) Division alongside their volunteer counterparts from the 36th (Ulster) Division; the rump Irish Volunteers split off on 24 September.
• 5 December - The Irish Volunteers appoint a headquarters staff, with Eoin MacNeill as chief of staff.