1997 in Northern Ireland

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 - An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, meets Prime Minister Tony Blair for the first time.
*6 July - There is violence in nationalist areas after an Orange Order parade is allowed down the Garvaghy Road by the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Portadown.
*20 July - The Provisional Irish Republican Army institutes a second ceasefire.
*26 August - U2 play their first Belfast concert in over a decade as part of the PopMart Tour. 40,000 fans attended the concert in Belfast Botanic Gardens.
*7 October - Substantial "all-party" talks begin in Northern Ireland.
*27 December - Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright is shot dead in the Maze prison by members of the Irish National Liberation Army.

Arts and literature

*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.
*Ciarán Carson's "The Star Factory" is published and wins the Yorkshire Post Book Award (Book of the Year).
*Waterfront Hall, concert and conference venue in Belfast is completed.

port

Football

*Irish League::Winners: Crusaders

*Irish Cup::Winners: Glenavon 1 - 0 Cliftonville

*Football League of Ireland::Winners: Derry City

*FAI Cup::Winners: Shelbourne 2 - 0 Derry City

Births

Deaths

*7 January - Patricia McLaughlin, Ulster Unionist Party MP.
*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).
*4 October - Sheila McGibbon, actress (b.1921).
*27 December - Billy Wright, former leader of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (b.1960).
*29 December - John Graham, Irish Republican Army activist in the 1940s (b.1915).
*Brendan Smyth, Catholic priest and convicted child molester (b.1927).
*Kennedy Lindsay - Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party politician and British Ulster Dominion Party leader (born in Canada).