30 January – SS Fulmar sinks off Kilkee with the loss of all 17 aboard.
29 March – Breed standard for Irish Setter agreed.
March – Prime Minister William Gladstone announces his support for Irish Home Rule.
8 April – Gladstone introduces the Irish Home Rule Bill in the House of Commons.[1] During the debates on the Bill
Financial Secretary to the TreasuryH.H. Fowler states his support for the Bill which in his words would bring about a "real Union—not an act of Parliament Union—but a moral Union, a Union of heart and soul between two Sister Nations".
Lord Randolph Churchill voices his opposition with the slogan "Ulster will fight, Ulster will be right".
8 June – the First Home Rule Bill fails to pass the British Parliament on a vote of 343–313.
June – Protestants celebrate the defeat of the Home Rule Bill, leading to renewed rioting on the streets of Belfast and the deaths of seven people, with many more injured.[2]
12 June – in a statement to Parliament, Gladstone calls for a general election and, with the dissolution of Parliament, an official election is held the next month.
12 July – mid-September: Belfast riots begin with the Orange Institution parades and continue sporadically throughout the summer; clashes take place between Catholics and Protestants, and also between Loyalists and police. Thirteen people are killed in a weekend of serious rioting, with an official death toll of 31 people over the period.[2]
October – the first tenant farmers are evicted during the first year of the Plan of Campaign.
Eason & Son, booksellers and stationers, established in Dublin.
The 1886 Tramways Act allows the Board of Works to grant loans to railway companies including £54,400 to the West Clare Railway one of the first railways to be built in western Ireland.
December – the Dublin University Harriers Club is founded in an effort to promote cross country running.
Chess
March 18 – the Irish Chess Association is invited to a match against the Belfast Chess Club in an advertisement in the Belfast Newsletter and Northern Whig.
September 20 – October 1: the Irish Chess Association holds a national tournament, consisting of an even and handicap tournament, as Richard Barnett (although W.K. Pollock gained a full score) defeats British Chessmasters John Blackburne and Amos Burn filling the vacancy by former champion Porterfield Rynd.