2005 in Northern Ireland - Events

Events

• 20 January - Belfast man Robert McCartney is murdered outside a bar in the city by members of the Provisional IRA.
• January - During a storm, a lorry is blown off the Foyle Bridge and its driver killed.
• 2 February - The Provisional IRA issue a statement to the Republican newspaper An Phoblacht withdrawing from its commitment to the decommissioning of weapons and other deals related to the Northern Ireland peace process.
• 9 February - Prime Minister Tony Blair issues a public apology to the 11 members of the Conlon and McGuire families who were wrongly convicted for the Guildford and Woolwich IRA pub bombings of 1974 when seven people were killed. the surviving members of the families were released in 1989 when the scientific evidence against them was discredited.
• 17 February - Seven people are detained by Gardaí for suspected activities in relation to the Northern Bank robbery in Belfast in December 2004. £2.3 million sterling is seized in County Cork.
• 3 March – Sinn Féin suspends seven members over their alleged involvement in the murder of Belfast man Robert McCartney, who was killed on 30 January
• 17 March - St. Patrick's Day: The sisters and fiancée of murdered Belfast man Robert McCartney meet United States President George W. Bush in the United States.
• May - Police Service of Northern Ireland takes delivery of its first helicopter, a Eurocopter EC 135.
• 5 May - United Kingdom general election, 2005
• 7 May - Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble resigns the leadership after losing his seat in the general election.
• 24 June - The IRA apologises unreservedly to the family of 14-year-old Kathleen Feeney, whom it shot dead in Londonderry in November 1973. The IRA had previously blamed the British Army for the killing, and murdered a British soldier in "retaliation".
• 28 July - In what has been described as an "historic" day, the Provisional Irish Republican Army ends its armed campaign and orders all its units to dump arms. The organisation also orders its members not to engage in any other activities of any kind.
• 2 August - The British Army begins to dismantle the observation post on top of Divis Tower in Belfast.
• September - Historical Enquiries Team, unit of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, is established to investigate the 3,269 unsolved murders committed during the Troubles (specifically between 1968 and 1998).
• 7 September - At Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland beat England 1–0. It is the first time since 1927 that the team has beaten England at home.
• 14 September - The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain, announces that the government no longer recognises loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force's ceasefire, due to the UVF's on-going feud with the Loyalist Volunteer Force, and recent violence against the police.
• 26 September - In a move described as "the day the gun was taken out of Irish politics", the head of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, General John de Chastelain, says that he is satisfied that the Irish Republican Army has completed the decommissioning of its entire arsenal of weapons.
• 24 November - Abbas Boutrab becomes the first non republican or loyalist to be convicted in the diplock courts of Northern Ireland - he is convinced of having information that could be used to bomb an airliner.
• 25 November - George Best, the man described as the greatest footballer of his or any generation, dies in London after several months of declining health.
• 3 December - Parliament Buildings hosted the funeral service for George Best. Approximately 25,000 people gathered in the grounds, with thousands more lining the cortege route.
• 8 December - President Mary McAleese meets Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle. It is the first time that the two heads of state meet in Ireland.
• 19 December - The Civil Partnerships Act 2004 comes into force. The first "gay weddings" are held in Northern Ireland, granting same-sex couples similar legal rights to heterosexual couples.