1930-1939

December 31st 1930: Mayo County Council is dissolved by ministerial order for refusing to appoint Miss Letitia Dunbar-Harrison to the position of county librarian on the grounds that she is a Protestant. "The Appointments Commissioners abolished at one stroke an Augean stable of intrigue and jobbery," says The Irish Times.

February 16th 1932: Fianna Fail wins the general election. Within a short time of forming the first Fianna Fail Government on March 9th, de Valera releases political prisoners, suspends the military tribunal set up by the Cosgrave Government to deal with rampant political crime, and allows the order declaring the IRA illegal to lapse. The Oath of Allegiance is removed from the Constitution on May 3rd 1933.

June 22nd-26th 1932: Dublin hosts the 31st Eucharistic Congress, opened by Cardinal Legate Lorenzo Laurie. Ocean liners in Dun Laoghaire and in the Liffey discharge thousands of visitors from all parts of the globe. Even the slums get a temporary facelift for the festivities. "The paint pot has transformed dull lintels and window-sills; banners of white and gold and blue conceal the bleak brick of decaying Georgian houses; miniature shrines have hidden a multitude of cracked and grimy fanlights," reports The Irish Times.

June 30th 1932: The Economic War results from a Government decision to withhold payment of land annuities worth £1.5 million owed to the British Treasury. The Anglo-Irish Coal-Cattle Pact on January 3rd 1935 signalled a move towards a truce. Economic hostilities finally end on April 25th 1938, when articles of agreement are signed that there will be an end to certain tariffs between the two countries and that Britain will hand over the three Treaty ports in exchange for a £10 million settlement.

April 8th 1933: Army Comrades' Association parades in blue shirts and black berets and become popularly known as the Blueshirts. Gen Eoin O'Duffy is later elected leader following his removal by the Fianna Fail Government as commissioner of the Garda Siochana. The Association is renamed the National Guard and proclaimed an unlawful association in August.

September 8th 1933: Cumann na nGaedheal, the National Centre Party, and the Blueshirts merge to form the United Ireland Party (later known as Fine Gael) led by Gen Eoin O'Duffy.

July 12th-21st 1935: Nine die in Belfast amid brutal rioting sparked by an Orange parade. More than 265 Catholic families are driven out of their homes in the York Street area by the end of July.

June 18th 1936: The IRA is declared an illegal organisation under the Special Powers Act.

November 20th 1936: Gen Eoin O'Duffy leads a contingent of Blueshirt followers to Spain to support Gen Franco and the nationalist rebels in the Spanish Civil War. In December, Frank Ryan leads Republican followers to Spain to fight in the International Brigade in support of the Republican government.

December 11th 1936: The External Relations Bill is passed, removing all reference to the Crown from the Free State Constitution and abolishing the post of Governor-General.

December 29th 1937: The Constitution of Ireland comes into force.

June 25th 1938: Dr Douglas Hyde (right), a Protestant and prominent figure in the language revival movement, is inaugurated as first President of Ireland by general agreement between all political parties.

August 25th 1939: An IRA bombing campaign in Britain escalates when an explosion at Broadgate, Coventry, kills five and injures 70. Two Irishmen, James McCormack and Peter Barnes, are executed for the bombing on February 7th 1940.

September 3rd 1939: When Great Britain and France declare war on Germany, the Government announces that Ireland will remain neutral.

December 23rd 1939: The IRA plunders the Army Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park Dublin, seizing over one million rounds of ammunition which are later recovered.

Not forgetting

November 17th 1930: Three Belfast men share £208,792 first prize in the first Irish Sweepstakes draw.

September 5th 1931: The first edition of the Irish Press, founded by Eamonn de Valera, is published.

October 23rd 1933: Col Charles Lindbergh (left) comes to Ireland to examine sites for a proposed seaplane base.

February 28th 1935: The sale and importing of contraceptives becomes illegal, and the age of consent is raised from 16 to 17.

May 27th 1936: Aer Lingus's inaugural flight, from Baldonnell Military Airport, Dublin to Bristol, takes place.

January 28th 1939: W.B. Yeats dies in Roquebrune, France, aged 74.

The Irish Times Book of the Century by Fintan O'Toole, about key events this century as reflected in the newspaper, is published by Gill & Macmillan this month. Price £25