Irish Constabulary officer carried out by The Squad (Irish Republican Army unit), newly formed under the orders of Michael Collins, when Detective Sergeant Pat "the Dog" Smyth of G division is shot near Drumcondra, Dublin. 12 August – St Colman's Cathedral, Cobh, is consecrated. 8 September – "The sack of Fermoy": drunken British forces rampage through Fermoy following an inquest on the previous death of a British soldier which fails to find for murder. 12 September – Dáil Éireann is declared illegal by the British authorities. There are raids on Sinn Féin centres and Ernest Blythe is arrested. 4 November – the British Cabinet's Irish Committee settles on a policy of creating two Home Rule parliaments – one in Dublin and one in Belfast – with a Council of Ireland to provide a framework for possible unity. 12 November – Mitchelstown Creameries, predecessor of Dairygold, opens for business as a co-operative. 19 December – volunteers from Dublin and Tipperary under the leadership of Paddy Daly undertake an ambush on Lord French's motorcade of three cars at Ashtown Road in Dublin. Lord French is the British Viceroy, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Supreme Commander of the British Army in Ireland. While three of French's party – two RIC and a driver – are wounded, French gets through unharmed. Volunteer Martin Savage is killed and Dan Breen wounded. 23 December – Irish Land (Provision for Soldiers and Sailors) Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, empowering the Irish Land Commission to provide housing for any men who had served in the British forces. Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, previously Chief Rabbi of Belfast, is appointed to serve in Dublin. Arts and literature October – W. B. Yeats travels to the United States and begins a lecture tour lasting until May 1920. In this year also Yeats publishes a major revision of The Wild Swans at Coole (including "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death" "The Phases of the Moon", "The Scholars" and "On being asked for a War Poem"), Two Plays for Dancers and "A Prayer for My Daughter". Ina Boyle's orchestral rhapsody The Magic Harp is premiered. Harry Clarke's illustrations to an edition of Tales of Mystery & Imagination are published. Francis Ledwidge's Complete Poems are published posthumously, edited by Lord Dunsany. C. S. Lewis, writing as Clive Hamilton, publishes Spirits in Bondage: a cycle of lyrics, his first published work, in