Events from the year 1788 in Ireland.

• Monarch: George III

• 1 August – English Market in Cork is opened.^[1]
• Belfast Reading Society is established in Belfast, later to become the Linen Hall Library.

• 12 September – Alexander Campbell, religious leader in Britain and the United States (died 1866).
• 14 October – Edward Sabine, astronomer, scientist, ornithologist and explorer (died 1883).
• James Murray, physician (died 1871).

• 5 March – Guy Johnson, military officer and diplomat (born c1740).
• 9 June – Hector Theophilus de Cramahé, Lieutenant-Governor of Province of Quebec, and Lieutenant Governor of Detroit (born 1720).