1971 in Northern Ireland explained

Events during the year 1971 in Northern Ireland.

Incumbents

• Governor - The Lord Grey of Naunton
• Prime Minister - James Chichester-Clark (until 23 March), Brian Faulkner (from 23 March)

Events

• 6 February – Gunner Robert Curtis becomes the first British Army soldier to be killed in The Troubles.^[1]
• 15 February – Decimal Day: The United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland both switch to decimal currency.
• 10 March – 1971 Scottish soldiers' killings: Three young off-duty Royal Highland Fusiliers are lured from a bar in Belfast and shot by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
• 20 March – Maj. James Chichester-Clark resigns as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. He is succeeded on 23 March by Brian Faulkner.
• 16 July – The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) announces that it is withdrawing from the Parliament of Northern Ireland.
• 9 August – Internment without trial is introduced in Northern Ireland.^[1] In Operation Demetrius, over 300 republicans are 'lifted' in pre-dawn raids. Some loyalists are later arrested. Twenty people die in riots that follow.^[2]
• 9–11 August – Ballymurphy massacre: Members of 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment of the British Army kill 10 civilians in the Springfield Road area of west Belfast during Operation Demetrius; the victims are found by an inquest held in 2018–21 to be "entirely innocent".^[3]
• 12 August – British troops begin clearing operations in Belfast following the worst rioting in years. Taoiseach Jack Lynch calls for an end to the Stormont administration.
• 27 September – Prime ministers Edward Heath, Jack Lynch and Brian Faulkner meet at Chequers to discuss the Northern Ireland situation.
• 30 October – The Democratic Unionist Party is founded by the Rev. Ian Paisley.
• 19 November – Taoiseach Jack Lynch has talks with Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Harold Wilson in Dublin.
• 4 December – The McGurk's Bar bombing, carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force in Belfast, kills fifteen people, the highest death toll from a single incident in the city during The Troubles.

Arts and literature

• 5 March – Ulster Hall, Belfast, becomes the first place in which Led Zeppelin play their iconic song "Stairway to Heaven".
• Paul Muldoon publishes his first poetry collection Knowing My Place.
• Frank Ormsby publishes his first poetry collection Ripe for Company.
• Blackstaff Press established in Belfast.

Sport

Football

• Irish League

Winners: Linfield

• Irish Cup

Winners: Distillery 3 – 0 Derry City

Births

• 31 January – Patrick Kielty, comedian and television presenter.
• 1 February – Alan Fettis, footballer.
• 5 June – Susan Lynch, actress.
• 6 June – Siobhan Keegan, Lady Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.
• 25 June – Neil Lennon, footballer.
• 13 July – Eamonn Magee, boxer.
• 2 August
  • Michael Hughes, footballer.
  • Anthony Tohill, Gaelic footballer.
• 10 September – David Humphreys, Ireland international rugby union footballer.
• 12 December – Naomi Long, née Johnston, Alliance Party leader and MLA.
• Full date unknown – Darran Lindsay, motorcycle road racer (killed in practice 2006).

Deaths

• 24 January – St. John Greer Ervine, dramatist and author (born 1883).
• 15 May – Billy Reid, volunteer in Provisional Irish Republican Army, killed in gunfight with British Army (born 1939).
• 14 June – Gerard Dillon, artist (born 1916).
• 27 July – Charlie Tully, footballer (born 1924).

See also

• 1971 in Scotland
• 1971 in Wales

Notes and References

1. Book: Edwards, Aaron. The Northern Ireland Troubles: Operation Banner 1969–2007. Oxford. Osprey Publishing. 2011. 978-1-84908-525-0.
2. News: 1971: NI activates internment law. BBC News. 2008-02-02. 1971-08-09.
3. Web site: Ballymurphy inquest: 10 innocent people killed without justification, coroner finds. Sky News. news.sky.com. 2021-05-11. 2021-05-11. The exact source of the bullet that killed one man could not be traced. There is an 11th death by heart attack.