2006 in Northern Ireland

Events

*30 January - Postal workers enter a 20 day wildcat strike disrupting most of Belfast's delivery service.
*25 February - Rioting in Dublin as Republican protesters organise counter protests to a "Love Ulster" (Unionist) parade in the city, which subsequently become violent.
*17 March - New Oncology Centre is opened at Belfast City Hospital.
*15 May The members of the Northern Ireland Assembly are recalled 3 and a half years after the assembly was suspended, with a view to electing an executive, and having the suspension lifted
*22 May - Belfast City airport is renamed George Best Belfast City Airport on what would have been George Best's 60th birthday.
*1 July - President Mary McAleese and leading representatives of all political parties in Ireland, north and south, mark the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme at the National War Memorial, Islandbridge
*11 October - Multi-party political talks on Northern Ireland held in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, ending on 13 October and resulting in the St Andrews Agreement.
*18 October - Northern Ireland overtake the Republic of Ireland in the Fifa rankings for the first time. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6061782.stm BBC article on Northern Ireland's Ranking] ]
*24 November - Loyalist Michael Stone, attempts to bomb the NI Assembly on the first day of the 'transitional assembly' following the St Andrews Agreement and when nominations for first and deputy first minister are due to be made. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6181994.stm] Stormont attack devices defused (BBC news)] [ [http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1124/northpolitics.html] Ahern welcomes further 'clarity' from Paisley (RTÉ news)]

Government

* Secretary of State for Northern Ireland - Peter Hain
* First Minister - office suspended
* Deputy First Minister - office suspended

Arts and literature

*August - Seamus Heaney suffers a stroke from which he recovers, but it requires him to cancel all public engagements for several months. [ "Today Programme", BBC Radio 4, 16 January 2007.]
*21 October - Renovated and extended Grand Opera House in Belfast is opened.
*3 November - Queen's University Belfast reveals a severe funding crisis and doubts over the long-term future of the Belfast Festival at Queen's [cite news | first=Matthew | last=McCreary | title=Festival future looks bright with £1m deal | work=The Belfast Telegraph | page= 3 | date=2008-02-08 ] .
*Seamus Heaney's poetry collection "District and Circle" is published and wins the T. S. Eliot Prize.

Sport

Athletics

*18 February-19 February - Irish Indoor Athletics Championships, Odyssey Arena, Belfast.
*Northern Ireland compete in the Commonwealth Games claiming two silver medals

Football

*"'European Championship Qualifiers [cite web | title=Highs and lows on the road to Euro | work=UEFA Euro2008 - Northern Ireland | url=http://www.uefa.com/competitions/euro/teams/team=63/index.html | accessdate=2008-01-27] :2 September - Northern Ireland 0 - 3 Iceland:6 September - Northern Ireland 3 - 2 Spain:7 October - Denmark 0 - 0 Northern Ireland:11 October - Northern Ireland 1 - 0 Latvia

*Other International Matches
**Northern Ireland 1 - 0 Estonia (1 March)
**Finland 1 - 2 Northern Ireland (16 August)
**Uruguay 1 - 0 Northern Ireland (21 May) (in USA)
**Romania 2 - 0 Northern Ireland (26 May) (in USA)

*"'Setanta Cup
**Winners: Drogheda United

*Irish League
**Winners: Linfield F.C.

*Irish Cup
**Winners: Linfield 2 - 1 Glentoran

* FAI Carlsberg Cup
**Winners: Derry City 4 - 3 St Patrick's Athletic (after extra time)

*December - George Best Memorial Trust launches a fund-raising drive to raise £200,000 in subscriptions to pay for a life-size bronze sculpture of George Best. [cite news | first=Victoria | last=O'Hara | title=Best memorial plan rescued by fan |work=The Belfast Telegraph | page= 3 | date=2008-01-29 ]

Gaelic games

:* Christy Ring Cup Winners: Antrim:::(Antrim 5-13 : 1-07 Carlow)

:*Nicky Rackard Cup Winners: Derry:::(Derry 5-15 : 1-11 Donegal)

Golf

*Europe win the 2006 Ryder Cup, held in Kildare Golf and Country Club, Straffan, Co. Kildare from the September 22 to the September 24.
*British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship is held at Royal County Down Golf Club, (winner: Belen Mozo).

Ice Hockey

*Belfast Giants win the Elite Ice Hockey League championship.

Motorcycling

*13 May - North West 200 2006 motor cycle road racing takes place. Robert Dunlop wins one of the races, the 15th North West 200 win in his career.
*4 July - Joey Dunlop posthumously awarded an honorary Doctorate of the University (DUniv) from the University of Ulster in Coleraine.
*9 September - Darran Lindsay, killed while practising for the Killalane road races, near Dublin.

Rugby Union

* RBS Six Nations Championship
**Ireland 26 - 16 Italy
** France 43 - 31 Ireland
**Ireland 31 - 5 Wales
**Ireland 15 - 9 Scotland
**England 24 - 28 Ireland::"'Ireland claim the triple crown

Deaths

*5 January - Merlyn Rees 85, third Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
*7 January - Alf McMichael, footballer (b.1927).
*8 January- Tony Banks, Baron Stratford, former Labour Party MP and Minister for Sport (b.1943)
*4 April - Denis Donaldson, volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army, member of Sinn Féin, exposed in 2005 as an informer (b.1950).
*11 April - Siobhán O'Hanlon, Sinn Féin official (b.1963).
*30 April - Billy McComb, magician and comedian (b.1922).
*22 May - Richard McIlkenny, one of the Birmingham Six.
*21 June - Denis Faul, monsignor, Northern Ireland civil rights activist, chaplin to prisoners in Maze Prison during 1981 Irish Hunger Strike (b.1932).
*17 August - Ken Goodall, international rugby player (b.1947).
*20 August - Bryan Budd, Parachute Regiment Corporal killed on active service in Afghanistan and posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross (b.1977).
*5 September - Anne Gregg travel writer and TV presenter (b.1940).
*9 September - Darran Lindsay, motorcycle road racer, killed while practising (b.1971).
*14 November - John Hallam, actor (b.1941).

References