1997 in Northern Ireland

← 1996 1995 1994 1997 in Northern Ireland → 1998 1999 2000
Centuries:	20th 21st
Decades:	1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
See also:	1997 in the United Kingdom 1997 in Ireland Other events of 1997 List of years in Northern Ireland

Incumbents

• Monarch - Elizabeth II

Events

• March - The first phase of the Forestside Shopping Centre in Belfast opens with a new Sainsbury's store.
• 1 May - United Kingdom general election, 1997.
• 3 July - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern meets Prime Minister Tony Blair for the first time.
• 6–11 July - 1997 nationalist riots in Northern Ireland: There is violence in nationalist areas after an Orange Order parade is allowed down the Garvaghy Road by the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Portadown as part of the Drumcree conflict.
• 20 July - The Provisional Irish Republican Army institutes a second ceasefire.
• 7 October - Substantial all-party talks begin in Northern Ireland.
• 10 October - At a Provisional IRA General Army Convention held at Falcarragh, County Donegal, a majority supports the ceasefire.^[1][2]
• 26 October - Provisional IRA Executive members opposed to the ceasefire including Michael McKevitt and Bernadette Sands McKevitt resign.^[3]
• November - Dissident IRA members led by Michael McKevitt meet at a farmhouse in Oldcastle, County Meath, and form a new organisation of Óglaigh na hÉireann, which becomes known as the Real Irish Republican Army.^[3]
• 27 December - Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright is shot dead in the Maze prison by members of the Irish National Liberation Army.^[4]

Arts and literature

• 26 August - U2 play their first Belfast concert in over a decade as part of the PopMart Tour. 40,000 fans attend the concert in Belfast Botanic Gardens.
• Ciarán Carson's The Star Factory is published and wins The Yorkshire Post Book Award (Book of the Year).
• Seamus Deane's first novel, Reading in the Dark (published in 1996), is shortlisted for the Booker Prize and wins The Irish Times International Fiction Prize and The Irish Literature Prize.
• Waterfront Hall concert and conference venue in Belfast is completed.

Sport

Football

• Irish League

Winners: Crusaders

• Irish Cup

Winners: Glenavon 1 - 0 Cliftonville

• League of Ireland

Winners: Derry City

• FAI Cup

Winners: Shelbourne 2 - 0 Derry City

Births

• 4 May - Gary Lavery, footballer.
• SOAK, born Bridie Monds-Watson, singer-songwriter.

Deaths

• 7 January - Patricia McLaughlin, Ulster Unionist Party MP (b.1916).
• 7 March - Geraldine Clinton Little, poet (b.1923).
• 17 April - Chaim Herzog, sixth President of Israel (1983–1993) (b.1918).
• 2 May - Robin Kinahan, Unionist politician and businessman (b.1916).
• 22 July - Vincent Hanna, television journalist (b.1939).
• 22 August - Brendan Smyth, Roman Catholic priest and convicted child sexual abuser (b.1927).
• 4 October - Sheila McGibbon, actress (b.1921).
• 27 December - Billy Wright, leader of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (b.1960; k. in prison).
• 29 December - John Graham, Irish Republican Army activist in 1940s (b.1915).
• Kennedy Lindsay - Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party politician and British Ulster Dominion Party leader (b.1924 in Canada).

References

1. Harnden, Toby (1999). Bandit Country. London: Hodder & Stoughton. pp. 429–431. ISBN 0-340-71736-X.
2. English, Richard (2003). Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA. London: Pan Books. p. 296. ISBN 0-330-49388-4.
3. Mooney, John; O'Toole, Michael (2004). Black Operations: The Secret War Against the Real IRA. Ashbourne, Co. Meath: Maverick House. pp. 33–39. ISBN 0-9542945-9-9.
4. "Loyalist leader murdered in prison". BBC On This Day. 27 December 1997. Retrieved 6 February 2009.