1985 in Ireland

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Decades: 1960s • 1970s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s Centuries: 18th • 19th • 20th • 21st See also: 1985 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1985 List of years in Ireland

Events

• January 1 - Cork City celebrates 800 years as a chartered city.
• February 26 - Former minister Desmond O'Malley is expelled from the Fianna Fáil Party.
• February 28 - The IRA kills nine Royal Ulster Constabulary officers in a mortar attack at Newry station.
• March 4 - Bob Geldof is honoured for his overseas aid efforts at a civic reception in the Mansion House.
• March 12 - The Health (Family Planning) (Amendment) Act allows the sale of condoms and spermicides to adults without prescription.
• March 28 - Gaisce is created by a trust deed under the patronage of the President of Ireland.
• March 30 - The Ireland national rugby union team wins the Triple Crown and Five Nations Championship at Lansdowne Road. They beat England 13-10.
• April 28 - Dennis Taylor wins the Embassy World Snooker Championship.
• May 16 - The Minister for Education, Gemma Hussey, announces a new £20 million project to create the transition year in post-primary schools.
• June 23 - Air India Flight 182, a Boeing 747, crashes into the sea 190 kilometres south-west of the Irish coast as the result of a bomb thought to have been planted by the Khalistan movement.
• July 13 - Live Aid is organised by Bob Geldof in London. Ireland is the highest per-capita donor country.
• July 22 - At Ballinspittle, County Cork, two women claim to have seen a statue of the Virgin Mary move. The grotto becomes a place of pilgrimage.
• July 31 - Thousands flock to Ballinspittle, County Cork, where a statue of the Virgin Mary is claimed to move miraculously.
• September 2 - Spike Island Jail in County Cork is left in ruins following a riot by prisoners.
• September 10 - The first heart transplant in Ireland takes place.
• September 20 - President Hillery presents Bob Geldof with a cheque for £7 million as the Irish contribution to the Live Aid appeal.
• September 29 - Pleasure trawler Taurima, owned by Charles Haughey, is wrecked near Mizen Head lighthouse.
• October 25 - The first commercial flight departs from Knock Airport.
• November 15 - Taoiseach, Dr. Garret FitzGerald, and the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, sign the Anglo-Irish Agreement at Hillsborough Castle, County Down.
• November 27 - Mary Harney is expelled from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party over her support of the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
• December 21 - Desmond O'Malley founds the Progressive Democrats.

Arts and literature

• Tom Murphy's Bailegangaire is produced by the Druid Theatre Company, Galway.
• Frank McGuinness's play Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching to the Somme is performed.

Sport

Boxing

• June 8 - Barry McGuigan wins the WBA world featherweight boxing championship.

Football

• Derry City joins the League of Ireland, having been out of senior football since 1972. Monaghan United FC also join the League in 1985.

Golf

• Carroll's Irish Open is won by Seve Ballesteros (Spain).

Rugby Union

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

Births

January to March

• 11 January - Mark Yeates, soccer player.
• 13 January - Pat Flynn, soccer player.
• 13 January - Stephen Quigley, 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.
• 15 March - James Hussey, soccer player.

April to June

• 2 April - Barry Corr, soccer player.
• 2 April - Paul Murphy, soccer player.
• 10 April - Willo Flood, soccer player.
• 23 April - Gary Mulligan, soccer player.
• 29 April - Pamela Myers, artist.
• 4 May - Laura Whitmore, MTV presenter.
• 6 May - David Tyrrell, soccer player.
• 13 May - David Bell, soccer player.
• 23 May - David Cassidy, soccer player.
• 28 May - Brian Shorthall, soccer player.
• 8 June - Barry Murphy, soccer player.

July to September

• 10 July - Conan Byrne, soccer player.
• 17 July - Eoin Larkin, Kilkenny hurler.
• 5 August - Aaran McEneff, soccer player.
• 9 September - Tadhg Purcell, soccer player.
• 17 September - Brendan Clarke, soccer player.
• 20 September - George McMahon, actor.

October to December

• 2 October - Mark Quigley, soccer player.
• 6 October - Karl Bermingham, soccer player.
• 5 November - Ian Maher, soccer player.
• 6 November - Kieran Harte, soccer player.
• 15 November - Brian Lloyd, blogger / musician.
• 4 December - Stephen Dawson, soccer player.
• 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.
• Michael Fennelly, Kilkenny hurler.
• Brian Murray, Limerick hurler.
• Anthony Nash, Cork hurler.
• Richie Power, Kilkenny hurler.

Deaths

January to June

• 18 January - Wilfrid Brambell, actor (b.1912).
• 21 February - Dermot Ryan, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin (b.1924).
• 3 March - Noel Purcell, actor (b.1900).
• May - Tommy Murphy, Laois Gaelic footballer (b.1921).
• 16 June - Alexis FitzGerald, Snr, solicitor, Fine Gael Seanad member (b.1916).
• 17 June - Bernard Bergin, cricketer (b.1913).

July to December

• 29 September - Timothy McAuliffe, Labour Party politician (b.1909).
• 11 October - Todd Andrews, Irish revolutionary and public servant (b.1901).
• 4 December - Frederick Boland, diplomat, first Irish ambassador to Britain and to the United Nations (b.1904).
• 8 December - Jimmy Rudd, soccer player (b.1919).
• 11 December - Kathleen Ryan, actress (b.1922).
• 17 December - Leo Maguire, singer, songwriter and radio broadcaster (b.1903).

Full date unknown

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