1985 in Northern Ireland explained

Events during the year 1985 in Northern Ireland.

Incumbents

• Secretary of State - Douglas Hurd (until 3 September), Tom King (from 3 September)

Events

• 28 February - 1985 Newry mortar attack: The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station in Corry Square at Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day.
• 3 July - Thousands of Loyalists demonstrate against a proposed Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) decision to re-route a church parade away from the 'Tunnel' (the Catholic Obins Street) area of Portadown.^[1]
• 6 July - RUC decide to allow a church parade through the area, but impose a ban on similar marches on 12 and 13 July.^[1]
• 7 July - Serious clashes occur in Portadown between Nationalist protesters and police as the parade of 2,500 Orangeman, passes through the Catholic Obins Street. Eight policemen are injured and three people arrested.^[1]
• 12–13 July - Further rioting in Portadown, this time between Loyalists and the RUC, as the Orange Order and Royal Black Institution parades are re-routed from the 'Tunnel' area. 52 policemen are injured and 43 people arrested during these two days of rioting.^[1]
• 15 November - Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, and the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, sign the Anglo-Irish Agreement at Hillsborough Castle, County Down. Treasury Minister Ian Gow resigns in protest at the deal.
• 23 November - A mass rally of Democratic Unionist and Ulster Unionist Party members against the Anglo-Irish Agreement is held outside Belfast City Hall under the slogan Ulster Says No.

Arts and literature

• 24 October - Anne Devlin's play Ourselves Alone is performed for the first time.^[2]
• Castleward Opera stages its first annual opera festival at Castle Ward, a National Trust house near Strangford in County Down, with a performance of Così fan tutte.
• Gerry Anderson begins broadcasting on BBC Radio Foyle from Derry.
• The last native speaker of Rathlin Island Irish dies.

Sport

Football

• Irish League

Winners: Linfield

• Irish Cup

Winners: Glentoran 1 - 1, 1 - 0 Linfield

• Derry City F.C. joins the League of Ireland, having been out of senior football since 1972.

Motorcycling

• Robert Dunlop wins 250cc race at the Cookstown 100.

Rugby Union

• 30 March - The Irish rugby team wins the Triple Crown and Five Nations Championship at Lansdowne Road. They beat England 13.

Snooker

• 28 April - Dennis Taylor wins the Embassy World Snooker Championship.

Births

• 1 January - Steven Davis, footballer
• 1 February - Dean Shiels, footballer
• 3 March - Sam Morrow, footballer
• 29 May - Jeff Hughes, footballer
• 15 June - Nadine Coyle, singer
• 29 June - Conall Murtagh, footballer
• 23 July - William Dunlop, motorcycle racer (killed in crash 2018)
• 27 August - Hannah Peel, composer
• 2 September - Marissa Callaghan, footballer
• 3 October - Kevin Seaward, marathon runner
• 14 October
  • Emmet Friars, footballer
  • Alanna Nihell, boxer^[3]
• 2 November - John Lowry-Corry, Viscount Corry
• 18 November - Jonny Harkness, footballer

See also

• 1985 in England
• 1985 in Scotland
• 1985 in Wales

Notes and References

1. Web site: Parades and Marches - Chronology 2: Historical Dates and Events. Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN). 28 January 2010.
2. Web site: Anne Devlin . Alan Brodie Representation . 2007-07-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20031211093238/http://www.alanbrodie.com/html/c.v/Anne%20Devlin%20cv.html . 2003-12-11 . dead .
3. Web site: Glasgow 2014 - Alanna Audley-Murphy Profile . g2014results.thecgf.com . 24 October 2020.