In the Liturgical Calendar it is the Feast Day of Mainchín mac Setnai, also anglicised to Munchin. He was allegedly the founder of the church of Luimnech, later Limerick, and a saint in Irish tradition, acquiring special eminence as patron of Limerick city. Both his origins and the date of his association with the city are debated.

1602 – The Spanish force under Aguila surrenders Kinsale to Mountjoy.

1793 – A Catholic Committee petition is presented to the king.

1880 – Parnell begins his tour of the United States on this date.

1902 – Birth of Dan Keating in Castlemaine, Co Kerry. He was a life-long Irish republican and patron of Republican Sinn Féin. At the time of death he was Ireland's oldest man and the last surviving veteran of the Irish War of Independence.

1905 – First edition of the Irish Independent.

1910 – James Joyce and Eileen Joyce leave Dublin for Trieste, Italy.

1920 – IRA volunteers of the 1st Cork Brigade captured Carrigtwohill RIC barracks. They were commanded by Mick Leahy. This is reported as the first 'official' attack on an RIC barracks.

1920 – Recruitment begins for the 'Black and Tans', Britain's unofficial auxiliary army.

1921 – East Cork was a hotbed of IRA activity during the War of Independence. Exactly one year after the IRA captured the Carrigtwohill RIC barracks British forces ransack and burn houses four miles away in Midleton, Co. Cork in reprisal for the deaths of three RIC officers on 29 December.

1921 – Two RIC men were shot dead by the IRA in a hotel in the centre of Belfast.

1921 – West Waterford Column under George Lennon ambushes enemy patrol at the v intersection outside Cappoquin on the Cappoquin to Mt. Mellary road.

1941 – German bombers drop F bombs in Dublin and other parts of the country.

1950 – Death of politician, James Dooley. Born in Co Longford, he served twice, briefly, as Premier of New South Wales during the early 1920s.

1962 – Margaret Emmeline Conway Dobbs, Irish historian, language activist, and defender of Roger Casement, dies.

1969 – The People's Democracy march continued, on day two, from Antrim to Maghera.

1971 – The second Ibrox disaster kills 66 fans at a Rangers-Celtic association football match.

1991 – A proposal to extend an official invitation to President Mary Robinson, to pay a visit to Belfast was rejected by Unionist councillors on Belfast City Council.

1994 – The Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), a cover name (pseudonym) used by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), carried out a gun attack on the home of Alex Maskey, a Sinn Féin councillor. Approximately 30 shots were fired at the house but no one was hurt.

1994 – In an interview in the Sunday Business Post, Vice-President of Sinn Féin, Martin McGuinness said that anything less than a British withdrawal from Northern Ireland would be unacceptable. Taoiseach Albert Reynolds called for 'demilitarisation' in Northern Ireland.

1995 – There was an accidental fire in the old Commons Chamber at Stormont which caused extensive damage.

1997 – It was reported in the Irish Times newspaper that representatives of Sinn Féin had approached the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) about the possibility of an electoral pact during the forthcoming general election. This approach was rejected by the SDLP on 5 January 1997. Andrew Hunter, Chairman of the Conservative Party's backbench committee on Northern Ireland, predicted that the "present peace process will fade away into nothing in a relatively short period of time".

1998 – Troops are ordered back on to the streets of Belfast and police patrols are intensified in a bid to foil loyalist attacks on Catholics in Northern Ireland.

1998 – Roísín McAliskey was formally committed for extradition to Germany at Bow Street Magistrates' Court in London. The charge related to an Irish Republican Army (IRA) mortar attack on the British Army Osnabruck barracks in Germany on 28 June 1996. The British government took the final decision on 9 March 1998 not to extradite McAliskey on health grounds.

1999 – The Orange Order organised two rallies in Portadown, Co Armagh, in support of the Orange demonstrators at Drumcreee. An estimated 5,000 Orangemen took part in the rallies. Sinn Féin accused David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), of encouraging the Orange Order.

2000 – Patrick O'Brian, born Richard Patrick Russ, 85-year-old author of maritime novels dies in a Dublin hotel.

2000 – A bronze life-size statue of Fungi, the Dingle dolphin is unveiled in a special millennium ceremony.

2001 – Ireland's third largest greyhound coursing meeting, Corn na Féile, is abandoned after saboteurs steal up to 30 hares.

2007 – Irish Becomes The 23rd Official Language Of the EU. It is accorded the status of a treaty language, which means it is regarded as an authentic text for treaties. As from 1 January, however, all key EU legislation are translated into Irish, with provisions put in place so that Irish can be spoken at council meetings. The move means the creation of 29 new posts in translation, revision and publication.

2008 – After 36 years in business, The Burlington Hotel in Dublin closes, with the loss of 400 jobs.

2009 – Death of Tony Gregory, 61, Independent TD sitting in Dáil Éireann.

2010 – Death of Eoin Neeson, 83; historian, author, journalist, former director of the Government Information Bureau.

Image | 'Serpentine Road to the Sea' | Ventry, Co Kerry | kerryviews.com