1996 in Northern Ireland

Events during the year 1996 in Northern Ireland.

← 1995 1994 1993 1996 in Northern Ireland → 1997 1998 1999
Centuries:	20th 21st
Decades:	1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
See also:	1996 in the United Kingdom 1996 in Ireland Other events of 1996 List of years in Northern Ireland

Incumbents

• Secretary of State - Patrick Mayhew

Events

• 24 January - The international body proposes six principles of democracy and non-violence ('the Mitchell principles') as conditions for entry to all-party talks in Northern Ireland.
• 9 February - A large Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb explodes in the London Docklands area, near Canary Wharf, injuring around forty, and marking the end of a 17-month IRA ceasefire.^[1][2]
• 17 March - a three year old is killed by the RUC in Dungannon.
• 31 March - Crumlin Road (HM Prison) in Belfast is closed.^[3]
• c. April - Northern Ireland Women's Coalition formed.

  

  Northern Ireland Forum seats in 1996.

• 30 May - Elections to the Northern Ireland Forum.^[1]
• 7–11 July - Drumcree conflict: A standoff over the annual Orange Order parade at Drumcree leads to rioting here and elsewhere in Northern Ireland.^[1] There are two related deaths and around 150 injuries.
• 1 October - Radio station Belfast CityBeat begins broadcasting.
• 7 October - Thiepval barracks bombing: The IRA explodes two car bombs inside the British Army headquarters at Lisburn, killing one soldier and injuring 37 other people.^[1]

Arts and literature

• August - Marie Jones' play Stones in His Pockets premieres in Belfast.
• The Hole in the Wall Gang win a Royal Television Society Award for Best Regional Programme for the comedy Two Ceasefires and a Wedding, the 1995 pilot for Give My Head Peace.
• Seamus Deane publishes his novel Reading in the Dark.^[4]
• Seamus Heaney publishes his poetry collection The Spirit Level which wins the poetry section of the 1996 Whitbread Awards.
• Deirdre Madden publishes her novel One by One in the Darkness which is shortlisted for the 1997 Orange Prize for Fiction.
• Robert McLiam Wilson publishes his novel Eureka Street.^[5]

Sport

Football

• Irish League

Winners: Portadown

• Irish Cup

Winners: Glentoran 1 - 0 Glenavon

Motorcycling

• 20 April - Robert Dunlop, after an accident in 1994, returns to race in the Cookstown 100, taking ninth place in the 125cc race won by brother, Joey Dunlop.

Births

• 15 February - Blue Hydrangea (Joshua Cargill), drag queen

Deaths

Plaque in memory of Pat McGeown

• 12 February - Bob Shaw, science fiction novelist (born 1931).
• 6 August - Havelock Nelson, composer and pianist (born 1917).
• 1 October - Pat McGeown, volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army, took part in the 1981 Irish hunger strike (born 1956).
• 4 October - Humphrey Atkins, fifth Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
• 17 December - Ruby Murray, singer (born 1935).

Full date unknown

• Arthur Armstrong, painter (born 1924).

See also

• 1996 in England
• 1996 in Scotland
• 1996 in Wales