3 May 1785: The first meeting of what became the Royal Irish Academy was held on this day at the house of the earl of Charlemont in Grafton Street, Dublin.

3 May 1915: Birth in Galway of the best selling novelist Walter Macken. His novels included: Rain on the Wind (1950); The Bogman (1952) ; the trilogy Seek the Fair Land (1959); The Silent People (1962) and The Scorching Wind (1964).

3 May 1916 – Patrick Pearse, Thomas Clarke and Thomas MacDonagh were executed by firing squad in Kilmainham jail on the orders of General Maxwell.

3 May 1916: IRISHMEN! HEAVY UPROAR IN IRELAND. ENGLISH GUNS ARE FIRING ON YOUR WIVES AND CHILDREN! – Message posted on the Western Front by the Germans opposite where Irish troops were in the line.

3 May 1916: John Redmond wrote to the British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith calling on him to stop the executions -
wholesale executions would destroy our last hope.

3 May 1924: The world premiere of Sean O’Casey’s Juno And The Paycock took place at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.

3 May 1932: The newly elected Taoiseach Eamon De Valera brought before the House a motion to abolish the Oath of Allegiance to the British Monarch on this day.