1998 in Northern Ireland

Events

*9 January - British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mo Mowlam, visits loyalist prisoners in the Maze prison. Afterwards loyalists agree to attend the Stormont talks.
*20 February - Sinn Féin is excluded from the Northern Ireland talks for two weeks. Protests in Belfast follow.
*10 April - Good Friday: the British and Irish governments and all the political parties in the Northern Ireland (except the Democratic Unionist Party sign the Belfast Agreement.
*19 May - John Hume and David Trimble join U2 on stage in Belfast as they make a direct appeal to young voters in Northern Ireland to vote 'yes' in the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement.
*22 May - The Belfast Agreement is endorsed in a referendum by people north and south of the border.
*25 June - The people of Northern Ireland go to the polls to elect a new Assembly.
*June - Crumlin Road Courthouse is closed and the site is eventually sold to a private developer.
*12 July- Three young children are killed in a loyalist arson attack in Ballymoney.
*15 August - 29 people die in a bomb explosion near the centre of Omagh, County Tyrone, caused by the Real IRA.
*3 September - President Clinton of the United States visits Omagh and views the bomb damage.
*16 October - John Hume and David Trimble are announced as the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.
*10 December - John Hume and David Trimble are presented with the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway.

Arts and literature

port

Football

*Irish League::Winners: Cliftonville

*Irish Cup::Winners: Glentoran 1 - 0 Glenavon (after extra time).

Motorcycling

*Robert Dunlop wins the Ultra-Lightweight race at the Isle of Man TT.

Deaths

*2 September - Jackie Blanchflower, footballer (b.1933).
*13 November - Valerie Hobson, actress (b.1917).

Full date unknown

*Sean McAloon, Uillean piper and pipe maker (b.1923).