1971 in Northern Ireland

← 1970 1969 1968 1971 in Northern Ireland → 1972 1973 1974
Centuries:	20th 21st
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	1971 in the United Kingdom 1971 in Ireland Other events of 1971 List of years in Northern Ireland

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.
• 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.
• 25 June - Neil Lennon, footballer.
• 13 July - Eamonn Magee, boxer.
• 2 August - Michael Hughes, footballer.
• 2 August - Anthony Tohill, Gaelic footballer.
• 10 September - David Humphreys, Irish international rugby union footballer.
• 12 December - Naomi Long, Alliance Party MLA.

Full date unknown

• Darran Lindsay, motorcycle road racer, killed while practising (died 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).

References

1. Edwards, Aaron (2011). The Northern Ireland Troubles: Operation Banner 1969-2007. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84908-525-0.