Events from the year 1938 in Ireland.

Incumbents
 President: Douglas Hyde (from 25 June 1938)
 Taoiseach: Éamon de Valera (Fianna Fáil)

Events 

 17 January – The Ford Motor Company in Cork City produced its 25,000th car.
 13 April – The Department of Local Government & Public Health reported that cases of typhoid and diphtheria had reduced; however, infant deaths had increased.
 21 April – Douglas Hyde was selected unanimously by the two main political parties to serve as the first President of Ireland.
 25 April – An Anglo-Irish Trade Agreement, signed between Ireland and the United Kingdom in London, settled the Anglo-Irish Trade War and agreed to the Royal Navy abandoning the British sovereign bases at the Irish Treaty Ports in return for a payment of £10 million.
 10 May – The Government made an order converting the "Saorstát pound" to the "Irish pound" as part of new constitutional reforms.
 24 May – The new Anti-Partition Party took eight seats in a Unionist-controlled Londonderry Corporation.
 17 June – 1938 Irish general election: The Fianna Fáil party under Éamon de Valera retained power, winning the first overall majority in the history of the State. Members of the 10th Dáil assembled on 30 June.
 25 June – Douglas Hyde was inaugurated as the first President of Ireland.
 7 July – The American ambassador to Britain, Joseph Kennedy, father of the future US president John, accompanied by his wife, Rose and eldest son, Joseph Jr., arrived in Dublin to receive an honorary doctorate from the National University of Ireland. During his two-day visit, the ambassador met President Douglas Hyde, Taoiseach and Minister for External Affairs Éamon de Valera, Papal Nuncio Paschal Robinson, and the Lord Mayor of Dublin Alfie Byrne. He visited the Book of Kells and the National Museum, and attended a state banquet in his honour at Dublin Castle.
 11 July–3 October – Military installations at the Treaty Ports in the Republic (Berehaven, Spike Island at Queenstown, and Lough Swilly) were handed over from British control to the Government of Ireland, under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Trade Agreement.
 8 August – Dublin Corporation purchased 16 sets of traffic lights.
 21 August – The £50,000 Cusack Stand with a capacity of 20,000 seats officially opened at Gaelic Athletic Association headquarters in Croke Park.
 12 September – Éamon de Valera was elected President of the Assembly of the League of Nations in Geneva.
 17 December – The Gaelic Athletic Association confirmed that President Douglas Hyde will cease to be a patron of the organisation because of his attendance at an international soccer match.

Arts and literature
19 August – W. B. Yeats' drama Purgatory premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.
 Samuel Beckett published his novel Murphy.
 Cecil Day-Lewis published Overtures to Death, and Other Poems.
 Oliver St. John Gogarty published his poetry Others to Adorn, with a preface by W. B. Yeats.
 Louis MacNeice published I Crossed the Minch and his poetry The Earth Compels.
 Artist Colin Middleton first exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy.
 Ewart Milne published his poetry Forty North Fifty West, with woodcuts by Cecil Salkeld.
 Kate O'Brien published her novel Pray for the Wanderer.
 W. B. Yeats published New Poems, including "Lapis Lazuli".

Sport

Football
League of Ireland
Winners: Shamrock Rovers
FAI Cup
Winners: St James' Gate 2–1 Dundalk

Golf
Irish Open was won by Bobby Locke (South Africa).

Births

 4 January – Jim Norton, character actor.
 30 January – Mick Lanigan, Fianna Fáil Senator.
 2 February
 John Moriarty, writer and philosopher (died 2007).
 Detta O'Cathain, Baroness O'Cathain, businesswoman and Conservative politician in Britain (died 2021). 
 27 March – Owen Dudley Edwards, historian and writer.
 4 April – Declan Mulligan, rock guitarist.
 29 April – Ray MacSharry, Tánaiste, Fianna Fáil TD, Cabinet Minister and European Commissioner.
 2 May – Douglas Goodwin, cricketer.
 13 May – Patrick Dineen, cricketer.
 15 June – Mary Turner, trade unionist in Britain (died 2017).
 2 July – John McDonnell, head coach for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks track team. (died 2021)
 15 July – Andy McEvoy, soccer player (died 1994).
 July – Seán Ó Cionnaith, Workers' Party politician (died 2003).
 1 August – Paddy Moloney, traditional musician with The Chieftains (died 2021).
 3 August – Terry Wogan, RTÉ and BBC broadcaster (died 2016).
 5 October – Frank Patterson, tenor (died 2000).
 16 October – Gerry Collins, Fianna Fáil TD for Limerick West, Cabinet Minister and Member of the European Parliament.
 29 October – John Kirby, Roman Catholic Bishop of Clonfert.
 31 October – Anne Buttimer, geographer (died 2017).
 28 December – Frank Kelly, actor (died 2016).

Full date unknown
 John Behan, sculptor.
 Gerald Davis, artist (died 2005).
 Pa Dillon, Kilkenny hurler (died 2013).
 Jim Lane, Irish republican and socialist.
 Úna O'Connor, camogie player (died 2020).

Deaths
24 February – Thomas Gann, doctor, archaeologist and writer (born 1867).
3 June – John Flanagan, three-time Olympic gold medalist in the hammer throw (born 1873).
27 July – Tom Crean, Antarctic explorer and publican (born 1877).
4 August – William Moxley, representative from Illinois' 6th congressional district (born 1851).
8 September – Robert Henry Woods, Irish Unionist MP (born 1865).
21 October – Sir John Purser Griffith, member of the Seanad.
7 November – James Murray Irwin, British Army doctor (born 1858).
12 December – James McNeill, politician and second Governor-General of the Irish Free State (born 1869).

References

 
1930s in Ireland
Ireland
Years of the 20th century in Ireland