1985 in Ireland

Events from the year 1985 in Ireland.

← 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1985 in Ireland → 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
See also:	1985 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1985 List of years in Ireland

Incumbents

• President: Patrick Hillery
• Taoiseach: Garret FitzGerald (FG)
• Tánaiste: Dick Spring (Lab)
• Minister for Finance: Alan Dukes (FG)
• Chief Justice:
  • Tom O'Higgins (until 1 October 1985)
  • Thomas Finlay (from 10 October 1985)
• Dáil: 24th
• Seanad: 17th

Events

• 1 January – Cork celebrated 800 years as a chartered city.
• 26 February – Former minister Desmond O'Malley was expelled from the Fianna Fáil Party.
• 28 February – 1985 Newry mortar attack: the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) killed nine Royal Ulster Constabulary officers in a mortar attack at their station in Newry.
• 4 March – Irish singer Bob Geldof was honoured for his overseas aid efforts at a civic reception in the Mansion House in Dublin.
• 12 March – The Health (Family Planning) (Amendment) Act allowed the sale of condoms and spermicides to adults without prescriptions.
• 28 March – Gaisce – The President's Award was created by a trust deed under the patronage of the President of Ireland.
• 30 March – The Irish rugby team won the Triple Crown and Five Nations Championship at Lansdowne Road stadium in Dublin. They beat England 13–10.
• 28 April – Dennis Taylor won the Embassy World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.
• 16 May – The Minister for Education, Gemma Hussey, announced a new £20 million project to create a transition year in post-primary schools.
• 23 June – Three hundred and twenty nine people were killed when Air India Flight 182 exploded in midair 190 kilometres off the southwest coast of Ireland while flying the Montreal–London–Delhi–Bombay route. A bomb was thought to have been planted by the Khalistan movement.
• 25 June – Irish police foiled an IRA-sponsored bombing campaign in England which targeted London and English seaside resorts.
• 13 July – The international Live Aid charity rock concert took place in Wembley Stadium, London. It was organised by Irishman Bob Geldof and Scotsman Midge Ure, and Ireland was the highest per-capita donor country.
• 22 July – Two women claimed to have seen a statue of the Virgin Mary moving in Ballinspittle, County Cork. The grotto became a pilgrimage site and thousands visited there on 31 July.
• 25 July – Ireland was struck by a violent thunderstorm, one of the worst in the country's history.
• 2 September – Spike Island Jail in County Cork was left in ruins following a riot by prisoners.
• 10 September – The first heart transplant in Ireland was performed.
• 20 September – President Hillery presented Bob Geldof with a cheque for £7 million as the Irish contribution to the Live Aid appeal.
• 29 September – The pleasure trawler Taurima, owned by leader of the Fianna Fáil party, Charles Haughey, was wrecked near Mizen Head lighthouse.
• 11 October – Shop steward Karen Gearon, representing striking workers at Dunnes Stores, addressed the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid on a Day of Solidarity with South African Political Prisoners.
• 25 October – The first commercial flight departed from the new Knock Airport.
• 15 November – Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher, signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement at Hillsborough Castle.
• 27 November – Mary Harney was expelled from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party due to her support of the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
• 21 December – Desmond O'Malley founded the Progressive Democrats party.

Arts and literature

• 18 February – Frank McGuinness's play Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme opened on the Peacock Stage of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, winning the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.
• 1 June – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played their debut Irish concert at Slane Castle in front of 100,000 people, and performed for four hours.
• 29 June – The first Croke Park concert took place, featuring U2, Squeeze, R.E.M., The Alarm and In Tua Nua.
• Maeve Binchy's novel Echoes was published.
• Shaun Davey's orchestral suite for voice and uilleann pipes Granuaile was recorded.
• Tom Murphy's Conversations on a Homecoming (16 April) and Bailegangaire (5 December) were produced by the Druid Theatre Company in Galway.
• Alternative rock group Toasted Heretic was founded by Julian Gough in Galway.

Sport

Association football

• Derry City joined the League of Ireland, having been out of senior football since 1972. Monaghan United was also elected to the League this year.

Boxing

• 8 June – Barry McGuigan won the WBA world featherweight boxing championship.

Golf

• The Irish Open was won by Seve Ballesteros (Spain).

Rugby Union

• 30 March – The Irish rugby team won the Triple Crown and Five Nations Championship at Lansdowne Road stadium. They beat England 13–10.

Births

• 11 January – Mark Yeates, soccer player.
• 13 January – Pat Flynn, soccer player.
• 20 January – Neil Gallagher, soccer player.
• 31 January – James "Cha" Fitzpatrick, Kilkenny hurler.
• 6 February – John Tennyson, Kilkenny hurler.
• 7 February – Michael Lyng, Cavan Gaelic footballer.
• 20 February – Alan O'Brien, soccer player.
• 28 February – Michael Fennelly, Kilkenny hurler.
• 2 April – Barry Corr, soccer player.
• 10 April – Willo Flood, soccer player.
• 23 April – Gary Mulligan, soccer player.
• 29 April – Pamela Myers, artist.
• 4 May – Laura Whitmore, presenter.
• 13 May – David Bell, soccer player.
• 8 June – Barry Murphy, soccer player.
• 15 June – Nadine Coyle, singer
• 6 July – Killian Scott, actor
• 10 July – Conan Byrne, soccer player.
• 17 July – Eoin Larkin, Kilkenny hurler.
• 22 July – Ryan Dolan, singer
• 28 July – Darren Murphy, Irish footballer
• 9 September – Tadhg Purcell, soccer player.
• 17 September – Brendan Clarke, soccer player.
• 20 September – George McMahon, actor.
• 2 October – Mark Quigley, soccer player.
• 6 October – Karl Bermingham, soccer player.
• 5 November – Ian Maher, soccer player.
• 4 December – Stephen Dawson, soccer player.
• 4 December – Richie Power, Kilkenny hurler.
• 9 December – Mark Leech, soccer player.
• 24 December – Donnacha Cody, Kilkenny hurler.
• 29 December – Patrick Kavanagh, soccer player.

Full date unknown

• Deirdre Delaney, camogie player.
• Caoilinn Hughes, novelist.

Deaths

• 18 January – Wilfrid Brambell, actor (born 1912).
• 21 February – Dermot Ryan, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin (born 1924).
• 3 March – Noel Purcell, actor (born 1900).
• 14 March – Kathleen Lemass, wife of Seán Lemass (born 1898).
• May – Tommy Murphy, Laois Gaelic footballer (born 1921).
• 16 June – Alexis FitzGerald Snr, solicitor, Fine Gael Seanad member (born 1916).
• 17 June – Bernard Bergin, cricketer (born 1913).
• 29 September – Timothy McAuliffe, Labour Party politician (born 1909).
• 11 October – Todd Andrews, Irish revolutionary and public servant (born 1901).
• 4 November – Liam Grainger, Gaelic footballer (Dohenys, Clonakilty, Carbery, Cork senior team, Munster) (born 1913).
• 4 December – Frederick Boland, diplomat, first Irish ambassador to Britain and to the United Nations (born 1904).
• 8 December – Jimmy Rudd, soccer player (born 1919).
• 11 December – Kathleen Ryan, actress (born 1922).
• 17 December – Leo Maguire, singer, songwriter and radio broadcaster (born 1903).

Full date unknown

• Sigerson Clifford, poet and playwright (born 1913).
• Fergus Crawford, soccer player (born 1933).
• Alex Stevenson, soccer player (born 1912).

See also

• 1985 in Irish television