1987 in Ireland

← 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1987 in Ireland → 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
See also:	1987 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1987 List of years in Ireland

Events from the year 1987 in Ireland.

Incumbents

• President: Patrick Hillery
• Taoiseach: Garret FitzGerald (FG) (until March 10, 1987); Charles Haughey (FF) (starting March March 10, 1987)

Events

• 20 January - Labour Party ministers resign from the government over a disagreement over budget proposals.
• 19 February - A general election returns a Fianna Fáil minority government with Charles Haughey as Taoiseach.
• 11 March - Former Taoiseach Dr. Garret FitzGerald resigns the leadership of Fine Gael. He is succeeded by Alan Dukes.
• 22 March - The Irish National Lottery is launched.
• 28 March - The National Lottery launches its first scratch cards.
• 8 May - The British SAS kills eight IRA members and a civilian in an ambush at Loughgall, County Tyrone.
• 9 May - Johnny Logan wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland with his own composition Hold Me Now, making him the only person to have won the competition twice as a performer.
• 26 May - Voters go to the poll in the referendum on the Single European Act. Nearly 70% vote in favour of the 10th amendment to the constitution.
• 26 July - Stephen Roche wins the Tour de France.
• 8 November - Remembrance Day bombing: Eleven civilians are killed by an IRA bomb during a Remembrance Day service in Enniskillen.
• 10 November - The funeral takes place in Dublin of the broadcaster Eamonn Andrews.
• 29 November - Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, opens to patients.
• 5 December - Downpatrick & Ardglass Railway begins public operation, the first Irish gauge heritage railway in Ireland.^[1]

Arts and literature

• U2 release The Joshua Tree album^[2] to popular international acclaim.
• Maeve Binchy's novel Firefly Summer is published.
• Roddy Doyle publishes his first novel, The Commitments, first of The Barrytown Trilogy, about a group of unemployed young people in the north side of Dublin who start a soul band.
• Kíla, the folk/world music group, is formed in the Irish language secondary school Coláiste Eoin in County Dublin.

Sport

Cycling

Stephen Roche

• 6 September - Stephen Roche completes a remarkable treble by winning the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and the World Championship.

Gaelic football

• Meath defeat Cork by 1-14 to 0-11 to win the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

Golf

• Carroll's Irish Open is won by Bernhard Langer (West Germany).

Hurling

• Galway defeat Kilkenny by 1-12 to 0-9 to win the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.

Soccer

• 11 November - Republic of Ireland qualify for their first major international tournament when Scotland pull off a shock 1-0 win in Sofia against Bulgaria. Gary Mackay scores the only goal with just three minutes left to put the Republic of Ireland into Euro 88 which will be held in West Germany.

Births

January to June

Shane Long was born in January.

Shane Lowry was born in April.

• 2 January - Cathal Naughton, Cork hurler.
• 22 January- Shane Long, soccer player.
• 30 January - Rebecca Knox, professional wrestler.
• 3 February - Conor Rafferty, soccer player.
• 4 February - Darren O'Dea, soccer player.
• 5 February - Denis McLaughlin, soccer player.
• 14 February - James Chambers, soccer player.
• 16 March - Diarmuid O'Carroll, soccer player.
• 2 April - Shane Lowry, golfer
• 12 April - Niall O'Reilly, soccer player.
• 13 April - Conor Sammon, soccer player.
• 12 May - Darren Randolph, soccer player.
• 20 May - Pa Cronin, Cork hurler.
• 21 May - Chris McCann, soccer player.

July to December

• 1 July - Gary Walsh, soccer player.
• 7 July - Diarmuid Connolly, Dublin Gaelic football and Hurling player.
• 9 July - Jonny Hayes, soccer player.
• 9 July - Sean Kelly, soccer player.
• 28 September - Gary Deegan, soccer player.
• 16 October - Eric McGill, soccer player.
• 7 November - Gareth Whelan, soccer player.
• 16 November - T. J. Reid, Kilkenny hurler.
• 13 December - Billy Clarke, soccer player.
• 21 December - Ronan Finn, soccer player.

Deaths

January to June

• 2 January - Roger McHugh, professor, author and playwright (born 1908).
• 14 January - Ewart Milne, poet (born 1903).
• January - Billy King, cricketer (born 1902).
• 8 April - Kevin McNamara, Archbishop of Dublin.
• 19 April - Con Cremin, diplomat (born 1908).
• 23 April - Oliver J. Flanagan, former Fine Gael TD and Cabinet Minister (born 1920).
• 27 April - Maurice Gibson, Northern Irish judge (born 1913).
• 8 May - Jim Lynagh, Provisional Irish Republican Army member killed in an ambush by the SAS during an attack on Loughgall RUC station (born 1956).
• 17 May - Liam Miller, publisher.
• 22 June - John Hewitt, poet (born 1907).
• 30 June - Tommy O'Connor, soccer player.

July to December

• 20 July - Denis J. O'Sullivan, Fine Gael TD (born 1918).
• 18 October - Michael Lipper, Labour Party politician and TD (born 1932).
• 29 October - Monk Gibbon, poet and author (born 1896).
• 5 November - Eamonn Andrews, broadcaster (born 1922).
• 25 November - James McDyer, Roman Catholic priest and community leader.
• 9 December - Seán Brosnahan, Treasurer INTO, member of the Seanad from 1961 to 1977.
• 29 December - Francis Llewellyn Harrison, musicologist.

Full date unknown

• Eudie Coughlan, Cork hurler (born 1900).
• Bill Hayes, soccer player (born 1915).
• Jimmy Warnock, boxer (born 1912).

References

1. Cochrane, Gerry (2009). Back in Steam: the Downpatrick and County Down Railway from 1982. Newtownards: Colourpoint. p. 95. ISBN 978-1-906578-29-9.
2. Buckley, Peter (2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. p. 1125.