Events in the year 1971 in Ireland. Incumbents President: Éamon de Valera Taoiseach: Jack Lynch (FF) Tánaiste: Erskine H. Childers (FF) Minister for Finance: George Colley (FF) Chief Justice: Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh Dáil: 19th Seanad: 12th Events 4 January – John McQuaid retired after thirty years as Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin. Dermot Ryan was appointed to succeed him on 29 December. 15 February – Decimalisation: Ireland and the United Kingdom both switched to decimal currency. 6 March – Crowds assembled at Dublin Airport to witness the first flight of a Boeing 747 aircraft in Ireland when Aer Lingus took delivery of its first Jumbo Jet, the Saint Columcille (registration number EI-ASI), which arrived from New York. 6 March – Rock group Led Zeppelin played their only concert in Ireland at Dublin's National Stadium. 17 March – The giant Jumbo Jet recently arrived in Ireland flew over the Saint Patrick's Day parade along O'Connell Street, Dublin, escorted by four smaller aircraft. 20 March – Major James Chichester-Clark resigned as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. He was succeeded on 23 March by Brian Faulkner. 3 April – The Eurovision Song Contest was held in Dublin. Presented by Bernadette Ní Ghallchóir, it was the first colour television broadcast by RTÉ. 11 April Ten British Army soldiers were injured in rioting in Derry. The Gaelic Athletic Association voted to lift its ban on members participating in "foreign games" such as association football, rugby and cricket. 20 April – Two British Royal Navy survey launches moored off Baltimore, County Cork, were towed out to sea and bombed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army unit. One of them, the Stork, was wrecked. 11 May – Seán Lemass, taoiseach from 1959 to 1966, died aged 71. He fought during the 1916 Easter Rising, the War of Independence and the Civil War. 22 May – Members of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement returned to Dublin bringing contraceptives from Belfast on the so-called "Contraceptive Train" to protest against the law banning their importation. 8 July – Two rioters were shot dead by British troops in Derry. 16 July – The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) announced that it was withdrawing from the Stormont parliament. 9 August – Internment without trial was introduced in Northern Ireland. Over 300 republicans were arrested in pre-dawn raids by British security forces and interned in Long Kesh prison. Some Loyalists were later