The Tour of Ireland (Irish: Turas na hÉireann, known from 1985 to 1992 as the Nissan Classic) was a bicycle stage race held in August, which ran for 35 editions over a 56-year period.

Seamus Elliot who later won a stage and wore the yellow jersey in the 1963 Tour de France finished tenth overall.

The 1954 race was covered by J B Wadley and photographer Bill Lovelace for The Bicycle magazine and a full report appeared in the 5 May issue.

Winners during this period include Bray Wheelers Peter Doyle (1968) and Paul Elliott (1970), Doug Dailey (1971, 1973), Liam Horner (1972), a double Olympian, Tony Lally (1974), a 1980 Olympian and the youngest ever winner at age 20, Pat McQuaid (1975, 1976; later UCI President), Ángel Arroyo (1977), runner up in 1983 Tour de France, John Shortt (1978) and Ron Hayman (1979) who was followed home by Phil Anderson, Stephen Roche and Robert Miller in 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

The Nissan Classic was referred to as the Tour of Ireland by the famous Irish cyclist Stephen Roche during the 1987 edition.

It was a hugely successful event that captured the spirit and imagination of the race going public who stood at the side of the road in vast numbers.

Other areas that the event regularly visited included Kelly's hometown of Carrick-on-Suir in County Tipperary, O'Connell Street in Limerick and Eyre Square in Galway.

[18] Lance Armstrong & Mark Cavendish took part in the 2009 edition, which was shortened to a 3-day event due to the economic downturn.