Events in the Northern Ireland conflict, by date
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JANUARY
1st 1969 Forty members of People's Democracy began a four-day march from Belfast across Northern Ireland to Derry. NICRA and some Derry nationalists had advised against it.
1974 The Northern Ireland Executive took office.
2nd 1969 The People's Democracy march continued, from Antrim to Maghera.
3rd 2002 UDA member William Campbell was killed, possibly when handling a pipe bomb that exploded prematurely.
4th 1969 On the final day of the People's Democracy march, the marchers were ambushed and attacked by a loyalist mob at Burntollet Bridge. The mob included off-duty members of the B-Specials. The march was attacked a second time on Irish Street. The RUC broke up the rally and entered the Bogside area, leading to serious rioting.
5th 1976 Ten Protestant civilians were killed by the Republican Action Force, believed to be a covername for the IRA, in an attack on their minibus at Kingsmills.
6th 1983 The undercover RUC officers were shot dead by the IRA in Rostrevor.
7th 1980 Talks organised by Humphrey Atkins, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, got under way at Stormont.
8th 1968 Northern Ireland Prime Minister Terence O'Neill travelled to Dublin to meet the Taoiseach Jack Lynch to discuss matters of joint interest.
9th 2002 Violent confrontations took place outside the Holy Cross Girls' Primary School in Ardoyne.
10th 1990 The room being used by the Stevens Inquiry, into allegations of collusion between Loyalist paramilitaries and the security forces, was destroyed by fire.
2002 Further violence took place on the Ardoyne Road in north Belfast.
11th 1970 Sinn Féin held an Ard Fheis in Dublin at which the party split. A majority of delegates were in favour of ending the policy of abstentionism, which had meant not taking any seats won in parliaments in Dublin, Belfast and London. The 257 opposed, who supported the Provisional Army Council, walked out of the meeting and later formed Provisional Sinn Féin.
1988 John Hume, leader of the SDLP, met Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Féin. Some commentators consider this the start of the 'Peace Process'.
12th 1998 Multi-party talks resumed at Stormont. The British and Irish governments issued Propositions of Heads of Agreement. Only Sinn Féin had reservations about the proposals, which included a Northern Ireland Assembly and other bodies.
2000 Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin held a meeting with US President Bill Clinton.
2002 Loyalists killed Catholic civilian Daniel McColgan.
13th 1982 Lord Gowrie, a Northern Ireland Office minister, said that Direct Rule was 'very unBritish' and he preferred dual citizenship.
14th 1973 Two RUC officers were killed in Derry by an IRA booby-trap bomb.
15th 1971 Riots broke out in the Ardoyne area of Belfast.
16th 1995 A delegation with Sinn Féin held a meeting at the Northern Ireland Office. They accepted that they had an 'influence' on paramilitary weapons.
17th 1992 The IRA exploded a bomb at Teebane, killing 8 Protestant civilians who had been travelling in a minibus past Teebane crossroads. The man had been working at a military base.
18th 1978 The European Court of Human Rights ruled on the ill-treatment of internees during 1971 It found that internees had not been tortured, but had been subjected to 'inhuman and degrading treatment'.
2002 Anti-sectarian rallies took place across Northern Ireland.
19th 1994 A broadcasting ban was lifted in the Republic of Ireland, allowing Sinn Féin access to the Irish media.
20th 1987 Two INLA members were shot dead by the IPLO in Drogheda, beginning a feud between the two organisations.
21th 1993 British Prime Minister John Major wrote a letter to SDLP leader John Hume, rejecting calls for a new inquest into the events of Bloody Sunday.
22nd 1992 Brian Nelson, who had operated as a British Army agent and a UDA intelligence officer, pleaded guilty to five charges of conspiracy to murder.
1998 The RUC blamed the UDA and UFF for the recent killings of three Catholics, despite the fact that the UFF was supposed to be on ceasefire.
23rd 1986 Fifteen West minister by-elections were held following the resignation of 15 Unionist MPs. Unionists fought the election under the slogan 'Ulster Says No'.
1998 The UFF reinstated their ceasefire after an oblique admission that they had been responsible for the recent murders of Catholics, which they called a 'measured military response'.
2001 Republicans opposed to the peace process launched a mortar attack on a British Army base in Derry.
24th 1969 The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Brian Faulkner resigned from the Northern Ireland cabinet in protest at the policies of Terence O'Neill and the lack of 'strong government'.
1996 The Mitchell Report on Decommissioning was published. It outlined the 'Mitchell Principles' by which parties could enter into all-party talks.
25th 1994 The Combined Loyalist Military Command said it would adopt a 'wait and see' attitude to the Downing Street Declaration.
26th 1998 The UDP were expelled from the multi-party talks after the revelation that the UFF had been involved in killing at least three Catholics.
27th 1994 The UVF and UFF shot dead two Catholic civilians.
1999 Former IRA member and informer Eamon Collins was stabbed and beaten to death.
28th 1972 NICRA, in an attempt to avoid the violence at Milligan Strand six days earlier, placed 'special emphasis on the necessity for a peaceful incident-free day' on their next march on 30th January.
29th 1994 Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin was given a US Visa.
30th 1972 The British Army shot dead 13 civilians during a Civil Rights march in Derry - what became known as Bloody Sunday. A further civilian died later.
1997 The North Report was launched, recommending that an independent commission should be set up to review contentious parades.
31st 1972 British Home Secretary Reginald Maudling made a statement in the House of Commons on Bloody Sunday, claiming that the British Army returned fire and inflicted casualties on their attackers.
2005 Catholic civilian Robert McCartney was allegedly killed by members of the PIRA during an altercation at Magennis' Bar in Belfast.


FEBRUARY
1st 1972 British Prime Minister Edward Heath announced that Lord Widgery, Lord Chief Justice, would undertake an inquiry into the 13 deaths on Bloody Sunday.
2nd 1972 The funerals of 11 of the people killed on Bloody Sunday were held in the Creggan area. In Dublin, 90% of workers stopped work as a mark of respect. Up to 100,000 people marched to the British Embassy carrying 13 coffins. Later a crowd attacked the Embassy, and it was burnt to the ground.
3rd 1969 Northern Ireland Prime Minister Terence O'Neill announced the dissolution of the Stormont parliament. It was a political gamble to strengthen the hands of those in favour of reform.
4th 1974 The IRA planted a bomb on a coach carrying British soldiers and their families in England. Twelve people died.
1992 An off-duty RUC officer shot dead three civilians at the Sinn Féin office on the Falls Road.
5th 1992 The UFF shot dead five Catholic civilians at Sean Graham's Bookmaker's shop on the lower Ormeau Road. The UFF was a cover name for the UDA, which was legal at the time.
6th 1971 The first British soldier, Gunner Robert Curtis, was killed. On the same day, Catholic civilian Bernard Watt and IRA member James Saunders were killed by the British Army.
1981 Ian Paisley, leader of the DUP, led a protest against the Thatcher/Haughey talks, waving their firearms certificates above their heads.
7th 1973 The United Loyalist Council, led by Ulster Vanguard leader William Craig, organised a one-day general strike.
1991 The IRA launched a mortar attack on Downing Street. There were no injuries.
8th 2008 Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Shaun Woodward, revealed that the Bloody Sunday Inquiry was still costing £500,000 a month although it had not held hearings in three years.
9th 1996 The IRA ended their ceasefire with a lorry bomb in the Docklands, London, which killed two people.
10th 1975 The renewed IRA ceasefire began. It would last officially until the following year, although there would be a number of incidents during 1975.
1994 Dominic McGlinchey, the former leader of the INLA, was killed by three gunmen in Drogheda.
11th 2000 Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Mandelson, suspended the 72 day old power-sharing Executive and restored Direct Rule.
12th 1987 A Unionist petition against the Anglo-Irish Agreement with 400,000 signatures was delivered to Buckingham Palace.
1989 Patrick Finucane, a Belfast solicitor who had represented a number of Republicans, was shot dead by the Ulster Freedom Fighters. It was later alleged that there had been collusion between the Loyalist paramilitaries and the security forces.
13th 2001 The British Army made safe a pipe-bomb in Belfast that had been picked up by a four-year-old girl. The target of the attack was a Catholic family.
14th 1989 Sinn Féin councillor John Davey was shot dead by Loyalist gunmen.
15th 1971 A British soldier died seven days after being mortally wounded in an IRA attack.
16th 1998 The multi-party talks moved from Stormont in Belfast to Dublin Castle in the Republic of Ireland.
17th 1978 Twelve Protestant civilians died in the La Mon restaurant bombing.
1994 The IRA killed a Catholic civilian and an RUC officer.
18th 1970 The UVF exploded a bomb at a radio mast on Mongary Hill in Co. Donegal, putting the transmitter out of action. The mast had been allowing Radio Éireann programmes to be received over a wider area of Northern Ireland.
19th 1981 UUP leader James Molyneaux dismissed as 'ludicrous' claims by Ian Paisley that the UUP were conspiring to kill him.
20th 1979 Eleven loyalists known as the Shankill butchers were sentenced to life imprisonment for 112 offences including 19 murders.
1998 Sinn Féin was expelled from talks because of allegations of IRA involvement in two recent killings. On the same day, the CIRA exploded a large car bomb in Moria.
21st 2001 David Trimble of the UUP held talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
22nd 1972 The Official Irish Republican Army exploded a bomb at Aldershot military barracks, the headquarters of the Parachute Regiment. Seven people who were mainly ancillary staff, including a Catholic padre, were among the dead. It was believed to be retaliation for Bloody Sunday.
1995 The British Prime Minister and the Taoiseach held a press conference to launch the Framework Documents on Agreement and Accountable Government.
2002 Loyalists placed 10 pipe bombs at different locations in Co. Derry.
23rd 1985 Three members of the IRA were shot dead by undercover soldiers in the outskirts of Strabane. The men had been returning weapons to an arms dump.
24th 1969 An election was held to the Stormont parliament. The Unionist party fragmented into Official and Unofficial Unionists.
25th 1986 UUP leader James Molyneux and DUP leader Ian Paisley met British PM Margaret Thatcher at Downing Street to discuss the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
26th 1983 Leader of the Greater London Council Ken Livingstone travelled to Belfast to meet with Sinn Féin. Unionists criticised the visit.
1986 Leaders of Unionism announced a general strike of 'Day of Action' against the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
27th 1973 Two RUC officers were shot by the IRA near Moira.
1981 The IRA exploded a large van bomb in the centre of Limavady.
28th 1984 Nine RUC officers were killed in an IRA mortar attack in Newry. This was the greatest loss of life for the RUC in a single incident.
29th 1996 The IRA issued a statement following talks between the SDLP's John Hume, Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams and representatives of the IRA.


MARCH
1st 1976 Special Category Status for prisoners came to an end. It meant that paramilitary prisoners would be treated as ordinary criminals.
1981 A republican hunger strike began when Bobby Sands refused food. The strike marked the fifth anniversary of the ending of special category status.
1990 An appeal to the Irish Supreme Court by unionist politicians Chris McGimpsey and Michael McGimpsey was rejected. They had argued that the Anglo-Irish Agreement was unconstitutional because in recognising Northern Ireland as part of the UK, it breached Articles 2 and 3.
2nd 1987 The Ulster Clubs announced a plan to set up an alternative system of government.
1990 Meeting of the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference in London.
3rd 1976 The 'Maguire Seven' were convicted. They would later have their convictions quashed.
1986 Unionists held a widespread general strike, or 'Day of Action', against the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
1998 Two civilians, a Protestant and a Catholic, were killed by Loyalist paramilitaries at a bar in Poyntzpass. The murders took place in a mixed community which had experienced little of the conflict.
4th 1982 A by-election took place in South Belfast following the killing of Robert Bradford the previous November. Orange Order leader Martin Smyth won for the UUP. There had been antagonism between the DUP and UUP.
1996 A period of intensive consultations between the Northern Ireland political parties, the 'proximity talks', began. The UUP and DUP refused to join in while Sinn Féin was refused entry.
2001 The Real IRA bombed the BBC Television Centre in London.
5th 1997 The Stormont multi-party talks were adjourned to allow the parties to contest the forthcoming general election.
6th 1988 Three unarmed IRA members were shot dead by undercover members of the SAS in Gibraltar.
7th 1995 Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Patrick Mayhew outlined a three-point plan for decommissioning IRA weapons. He said the IRA were willing to 'disarm progressively', had agreed on the method and had begun. These were known as the 'Washington 3' conditions.
8th 1973 A referendum was held on whether the people of Northern Ireland wanted to remain part of the UK. This was the 'Border Poll'. Nationalists boycotted the referendum, and only 57% of the electorate took part. 98% voted in favour of the Union.
1999 The British and Irish governments signed four international treaties to provide the legal framework for devolved government.
2001 Political talks took place between the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. There was hope for an interim agreement to keep the peace process alive.
9th 1992 Representatives of the four main political parties in Northern Ireland held a 'plenary session' of talks.
1994 The IRA launched a mortar attack on Heathrow.
1998 The British government decided not to extradite Roísín McAliskey to Germany because of her pregnancy.
2002 UUP leader David Trimble gave a speech during which he described the Republic of Ireland as a 'pathetic sectarian, mono-ethnic, mono-cultural state'.
10th 1986 Unionist leaders said they would resume talks with the British government if the Anglo-Irish Agreement was suspended.
1998 Republican paramilitaries, probably the CIRA, carried out a mortar attack on the RUC base on the Newry Road in Armagh. There were no injuries.
11th 1994 The IRA launched a second mortar attack on Heathrow.
12th 1971 Thousands of Belfast shipyard workers took part in a march demanding the introduction of internment for members of the IRA.
13th 1994 The IRA attacked Heathrow for a third time with mortars.
14th 1991 The Birmingham Six were freed on appeal.
15th 1999 Lurgan solicitor Rosemary Nelson was killed by the Red Hand Defenders, a cover name for the LVF and UDA.
16th 1979 The committee headed by English judge Harry Bennett published its report on allegations of ill-treatment of people held in interrogation centres in Northern Ireland. They said there was medical evidence of abuse.
1988 Loyalist gunman Michael Stone attacked the funeral of the three IRA members killed in Gibraltar, killing three people.
17th 1995 Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Féin, attended the White House St Patrick's reception.
1998 The first St Patrick's Day parade took place in Belfast.
18th 1999 US President Bill Clinton, the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair issued a joint statement urging the leaders of political parties to meet the deadline set for all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement.
19th 1988 Following Michael Stone's attack on Milltown Cemetery, mourners at the funeral of those victims attacked and killed two British soldiers whose car had approached the procession.
20th 1993 The IRA exploded two bombs in Warrington, killing two children.
21st 1987 INLA member Kevin Duffy was killed by the IPLO as part of their feud.
2006 Peter Hain announced further changes to public administration.
22nd 1979 The IRA killed Richard Sykes, British Ambassador to the Netherlands, and his Dutch valet, in a gun attack in The Hague, Netherlands
23rd 1971 Brian Faulkner became the Northern Ireland Prime Minister.
1998 Sinn Féin rejoined the multi-party talks at Stormont.
24th 1972 British Prime Minister Edward Heath announced that Stormont Parliament was to be prorogued and Direct Rule from Westminster would be imposed.
25th 1976 'Ulsterisation' or 'police primacy' was announced. The RUC and UDR would be more and more in the first line.
1991 The UUP, SDLP, DUP and APNI agreed to the arrangement for talks.
1993 The UFF, a covername for the UDA, shot dead four Catholics as they arrived at a building site in Castlerock.
1998 George Mitchell set a deadline for political parties to meet an agreement.
26th 1980 The end of Special Category Status for members of paramilitary organisations was announced.
27th 2000 The Saville Inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday began public hearings at the Guildhall in Derry.
28th 1979 The Labour government lost a vote of confidence, with votes from Northern Ireland MPs being decisive bringing down the government.
29th 1999 Talks took place at Hillsborough Castle on decommissioning paramilitary weapons.
30th 1969 Loyalists bombed an electricity substation at Castlereagh, resulting in a blackout and doing £500,000 worth of damage.
1972 Direct Rule was introduced.
1979 Conservative Party spokesman for Northern Ireland Airey Neave was killed by the INLA.
31st 1998 The United Nations Commission on Human Rights accused the RUC of widespread intimidation of lawyers involved in defending paramilitaries on both sides.
2001 Loyalists beat and mortally wounded Protestant civilian Trevor Lowry, apparently under the impression that he was a Catholic.


APRIL
1st 1970 The Ulster Defence Regiment became operational. They were a locally recruited regiment of the British Army who were intended to replace the B-Specials.
1999 Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair agreed the Hillsborough Declaration, setting out a framework towards establishing the Executive.
2nd 1996 British Home Secretary Michael Howard introduced new emergency legislation to give police the right to 'stop and search' suspected members of paramilitary groups.
1998 A car bomb was intercepted by the Garda Síochána at Dun Laoghaire ferry port. It was thought that the bomb might have been destined for the Aintree Grand National horse race in England.
3rd 1980 Three staff members of Kincora Boys Home in Belfast were charged with gross indecency. These charges would lead to years of accusations that elements of the security service, civil servants and Loyalists had been involved.
4th 1969 Loyalists bombed a water installation at Dunadry.
5th 1981 A census was carried out. Sinn Féin campaigned for non-completion of the census forms as a demonstration of support for the hunger strike.
1982 The British government published a White Paper on 'rolling devolution', with power being passed to particular Northern Ireland Departments one at a time.
1997 The Grand National horse race was cancelled following a hoax warning about an IRA bomb.
6th 1972 The Scarman Tribunal Report was published. It found that the Royal Ulster Constabulary was seriously at fault during the violence of the summer of 1969.
1994 The IRA called a three-day ceasefire.
7th 1994 A Protestant civilian, Margaret Wright, was beaten and shot dead by Loyalists who believed she was a Catholic.
8th 1996 Violence followed an Apprentice Boys organisation protest at the banning of their march through the Lower Ormeau Road, Belfast.
9th 1981 Republican Bobby Sands, who was on hunger strike, was elected to Westminster for the Fermanagh/South Tyrone seat.
1992 In the UK general election, Gerry Adams lost his seat in West Belfast to an SDLP candidate.
10th 1992 The IRA exploded two bombs at the Baltic Exchange in London, killing three people.
1993 John Hume of the SDLP met Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin for 'extensive discussions'.
1998 The Good Friday Agreement marked the end of almost 30 years of violence and two years of intensive talks.
11th 1983 Fourteen UVF members were jailed for a total of 200 years in the first 'Supergrass' trial. Joseph Bennett, the witness, was granted immunity.
1990 Charles Haughey, the Taoiseach, made the first official visit to Northern Ireland by a Taoiseach since Seán Lemass in 1965.
1992 Patrick Mayhew was appointed Secretary of State.
12th 1999 The UN reported on the alleged harassment of defence solicitors by the RUC. The report was critical of Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan.
13th 1999 Political talks resumed over decommissioning.
14th 2001 The Real IRA bombed a Post Office delivery depot in north London.
15th 1998 The Grand Orange Lodge decided not to support the Good Friday Agreement. It demanded clarification of certain issues from the British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
16th 1970 Ian Paisley won the seat formerly held by Terence O'Neill at Stormont.
17th 1969 Bernadette Devlin was elected as a Unity candidate in Mid-Ulster, becoming the youngest woman ever to be elected as an MP.
18th 1972 The Widgery Report on Bloody Sunday was published. It would be referred to as a 'whitewash'.
19th 1972 British Prime Minister Edward Heath confirmed that the plan to conduct an arrest operation in the event of a riot during the march on 30th January, had been known to British government Ministers in advance.
1982 11-year-old Stephen McConomy died after being struck in the head by a plastic bullet three days earlier.
20th 1969 Loyalists bombed the Silent Valley reservoir, cutting off water supplies to Belfast, and an electricity pylon at Kilmore.
21st 1970 The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland was formed. The party was intended to appeal to both Catholics and Protestants.
1991 A census was held, but unlike in 1981 there was no Republican protest. Later analysis revealed the likely size of the Catholic population at 41.5%.
22nd 1981 Dolours Price, who had been serving a sentence for a car bombing in London, was released from Armagh Prison on medical grounds. Both she and her sister Marion, who was also imprisoned, suffered from anorexia nervosa.
23rd 1969 The Unionist Parliamentary Party voted to introduce universal adult suffrage in local government elections in Northern Ireland.
24th 1969 Loyalists bombed a water pipeline between Lough Neagh and Belfast.
1993 The IRA exploded a bomb at Bishopsgate in London, killing one person.
1994 The IRA shot dead two Protestant civilians, alleging that one had been a member of the UDA.
1998 The Northern Ireland Forum held its final session. It had become known as a Unionist talking shop.
25th 1971 The Northern Ireland census was held. The percentage of Catholics was recorded at 31.4%, but 142,500 people refused to give their religion, and the probable proportion of Catholics was estimated at 36.8%.
26th 1969 Loyalists bombed a water pipeline carrying supplies to Belfast.
27th 1968 The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association held a rally to protest at the banning of a Republican Easter parade.
28th 1987 Loyalist William 'Frenchie' Marchant was shot dead by the IRA, in retaliation for the UVF's killing of Larry Marley.
1995 A Catholic civilian was shot dead by the IRA in the 18 Steps Bar. It was alleged that he had been a drug dealer.
29th 1991 A ceasefire announced by the Combined Loyalist Military Command began at midnight. It would last until July.
1992 Political talks, later known as the Brooke/Mayhew talks, recommenced at Stormont.
30th 1970 The B-Specials were officially disbanded.
1991 Preliminary talks, later known as the Brooke/Mayhew talks, began on the future of Northern Ireland.


MAY
1st 1970 James Chichester-Clark was elected as leader of the Unionist party, succeeding Terence O'Neill as the Northern Ireland Prime Minister.
1975 An election to the Constitutional Convention was held in Northern Ireland. The UUUC won 47 seats and the SDLP 17 seats.
1997 A general election took place in the UK. In Northern Ireland the biggest news was that Sinn Féin increased its share of the vote to become the third largest party in the region.
2nd 1984 The Report of the New Ireland Forum was published. It criticised Britain's policy of 'crisis management' since 1968, and set out three possible options for the future: a United Ireland; joint authority shared between the Republic and Britain; a federal arrangement.
3rd 1977 The United Unionist Action Council organised a strike. The strike was opposed by other Unionist groups, and over 1000 complaints of intimidation were received.
1979 General Election won by the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher. In Northern Ireland the turnout was 68.4% with the DUP gaining two seats from the UUP.
1997 Mo Mowlam was appointed Secretary of State. She was keen to implement a number of 'confidence building measures' such as reform of the RUC and employment equality.
4th 2000 Further political talks took place between Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, and Bertie Ahern, the Taoiseach.
5th 1981 Death of Bobby Sands on hunger strike.
6th 2001 The Real IRA bombed a Post Office delivery depot in north London for the second time.
7th 1981 Funeral of Bobby Sands.
1998 It was confirmed that a new republican paramilitary group had emerged, the 'Real' IRA or Óglaigh na hÉireann.
8th 1987 One civilian and eight members of the IRA were shot dead at Loughgall. The IRA members were on their way to attack a police station when the SAS ambushed them.
1997 Robert Hamill, a Catholic civilian, died as a result of injuries sustained in a sectarian attack in Portadown. It was claimed that RUC officers nearby did nothing to intervene.
9th 2000 The RUC disclosed that five military installations would close.
10th 1995 Martin McGuinness led a Sinn Féin delegation to Stormont to meet Michael Ancram, Political Development Minister at the Northern Ireland Office.
1998 Sinn Féin voted to allow candidates to take their places in the new Northern Ireland Assembly, ending their policy of abstention.
11th 1986 Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Tom King, recommended the release of UVF supergrass William 'Budgie' Allen.
1995 Leaders of Loyalist paramilitary organisations warned that action would be taken against members found dealing in drugs.
12th 1981 Francis Hughes died on hunger strike at Long Kesh.
13th 1977 The United Unionist Action Council ended their strike. It had not been a success in comparison to the 1974 Ulster Workers' Strike.
14th 1974 The Ulster Workers Strike began in opposition to the Sunningdale Agreement.
15th 1985 District council elections were held, with Sinn Féin had gained 11.8% of the vote.
1998 The Loyalist Volunteer Force announced an 'unequivocal ceasefire'.
16th 1997 British Prime Minister Tony Blair made an important speech in which he reaffirmed his government's commitment to the Framework Document, the Mitchell Report on decommissioning and the grounds rules for entry into all-party talks.
17th 1974 Thirty-three people died in Loyalist bombings of Dublin and Monaghan. No one would ever be arrested over the explosions.
1989 Local government elections were held across Northern Ireland, with the UUP taking a third of the votes.
1990 A summary of the Stevens report was published. It found that there was evidence of collusion between the security forces and Loyalist paramilitaries.
1994 Two Catholic civilians were killed by the UVF at a building site.
18th 1977 District Council Elections were held, the main Unionist parties standing against each other for the first time since 1974.
19th 1993 Local government elections took place. The SDLP, Sinn Féin and the Alliance Party had an increase in their vote share.
20th 1981 District Council Elections were held against the background of the hunger strikes. Moderate parties all suffered a decline in support.
1988 British Prime Minister Tony Blair unveiled a set of pledges in advance of the referendum. He pledged that the status of Northern Ireland would not change without the consent of the people, no prisoners would be released unless violence was given up, all those using violence would be excluded from government, and power would be returned to a Northern Ireland Assembly.
21st 1981 Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O'Hara died on hunger strike. Tomás Ó Fiaich, Catholic Primate of Ireland, criticised the British government's attitude to the hunger strike.
1997 Local government elections took place, with the UUP winning the highest number of first preference votes, followed by the SDLP. Sinn Féin won more votes than the DUP.
22nd 1976 The Ulster Volunteer Force declared a ceasefire. However, it would be broken on several occasions.
1998 A Referendum took place on the Agreement. In Northern Ireland the Yes vote was 71.12% and in the Republic of Ireland 94.39%.
23rd 1981 Catholic civilian Joseph Lynch was killed during a street disturbance involving members of the RUC in Belfast.
24th 1984 The Stalker Inquiry into shoot to kill allegations began.
1995 Secretary of State Patrick Mayhew had an 'informal' private meeting with Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Féin, in Washington.
25th 1988 The British government issued a White Paper on fair employment. One suggestion included compulsory monitoring of the religious composition of workforces.
26th 1972 An IRA bomb killed a 64-year-old woman in Belfast. On the same day, a man was injured in north Belfast, in one of nine incidents later investigated in relation to the activities of the British Army's Military Reaction Force.
27th 1993 Mary Robinson, President of the Republic, met Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. It was the first official contact between an Irish president and a British monarch.
2000 The Ulster Unionist Council supported the idea of David Trimble re-entering the power-sharing Executive with Sinn Féin.
28th 1970 Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney, former Irish government ministers, James Kelly, an Irish Army Intelligence Officer, and John Kelly, a Belfast Republican, were charged in Dublin with conspiracy to illegally import arms for use by the IRA.
1974 The Executive collapsed and direct rule resumed. Brian Faulkner resigned as Chief Executive after Merlyn Rees, Secretary of State, refused to meet with representatives from the Ulster Workers' Council.
1999 The body of Eamon Molloy, one of the 'disappeared', was recovered in County Louth.
29th 1972 The Official IRA announced a ceasefire. This marked the end of the military wing of OSF.
30th 1973 District Council elections were held across NI, based on proportional representation and a single transferable vote system for the first time since 1920. The UUP took 41.4% of the vote while the SDLP won almost all the Nationalist/Catholic vote.
1983 The New Ireland Forum met for the first time, at Dublin Castle. Sinn Féin was excluded because they had not renounced violence.
1996 Elections to the proposed Northern Ireland Forum took place. Sinn Féin attracted a record vote of 15.5%, although the UUP gained the most votes.
2000 The British government restored devolution to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
31st 1973 Loyalist paramilitaries carried out three bomb and gun attacks on Catholic-owned pubs in Belfast.


JUNE
1st 1984 Ronald Reagan, President of the USA, began a four-day visit to the Republic of Ireland.
2nd 1994 Twenty-five people in an RAF helicopter flying from Northern Ireland were killed when it crashed in fog.
1997 Albert Maginness of the SDLP became the first nationalist Mayor of Belfast.
3rd 1972 A Protestant march against 'no-go' areas in Derry ended in a battle on the Craigavon Bridge.
1974 Republican Michael Gaughan died on hunger strike at Pankhurt Prison on the Isle of Wight.
1991 Three IRA men died at Coagh in an ambush by the SAS.
1997 The Stormont talks resumed. On the same day, the LVF and CIRA were proscribed, and 15 LVF prisoners began a hunger strike.
4th 1984 US President Ronald Reagan addressed a joint session of the Dáil and Senate in Dublin. He stated that US policy was not interfere in matters related to Northern Ireland, but he supported the New Ireland Forum.
5th 1986 John Stalker was removed from the investigation into the alleged 'shoot-to-kill' policy.
1999 Loyalists killed a woman in Portadown. Elizabeth O'Neill had been a Protestant married to a Catholic.
6th 1997 A general election took place in the Republic of Ireland. Sinn Féin won its first seat in the Daíl since its decision in 1986 to end its policy of abstentionism.
7th 1979 The first election to the European Parliament. Northern Ireland was treated as a single constituency returning three seats. Ian Paisley topped the poll.
1996 Jerry McCabe, a Detective in Garda Síochána, was shot dead during a post office robbery by the IRA.
8th 1981 IRA prisoner Tom McElwee joined the hunger strike.
9th 1983 A UK general election, that saw Gerry Adams, Vice-President of Sinn Féin, elected to the West Belfast constituency.
10th 1981 Eight IRA prisoners on remand escaped from Crumlin Road Prison in Belfast.
1996 All-party negotiations, the 'Stormont talks', began in Belfast, chaired by George Mitchell.
1999 In the European Parliamentary Elections, Ian Paisley of the DUP topped the poll followed by John Hume of the SDLP.
11th 1987 A general election was held in the UK. The SDLP increased their share of the vote while the overall Unionist vote fell.
12th 1992 Strand one of political talks hit a deadlock.
13th 1978 A report by Amnesty International claimed that people held at Castlereagh RUC detention centre had been ill-treated.
14th 1984 An election to the European Parliament took place, with Northern Ireland being treated as a single constituency. Ian Paisley became one of the elected MEPs.
15th 1988 An IRA bomb in Lisburn killed six off-duty British Army soldiers.
1989 The European elections were conducted with DUP taking nearly 30% of the vote, followed by the SDLP at 25.5%.
1996 The IRA exploded a bomb in Manchester, injuring 200 people and destroying a large part of the city centre.
16th 1994 The INLA shot dead three UVF members.
1997 The RUC killed two RUC officers in Lurgan.
17th 1991 Talks began at Stormont between the four main parties, but Sinn Féin was excluded.
1994 The UVF shot dead three men. Two were Protestants they had assumed to be Catholic.
18th 1970 In the UK General Election, the Unionist Party held 8 of the 12 seats in Northern Ireland.
1993 President Mary Robinson met Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin and shook his hand.
1994 The UVF attacked a bar in Loughlinisland, killing five Catholic civilians. Secretary of State Patrick Mayhew described the 'moral squalor' of the killers.
2001 New political talks took place between Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Prime Minister Tony Blair and the SDLP, UUP and Sinn Féin.
19th 2001 Loyalists protested at the Holy Cross Primary school in north Belfast.
20th 1968 The Caledon Protest. Nationalist MP Austin Currie and others began to protest against housing discrimination by 'squatting' a house in Caledon. The house had been awarded to a single Protestant woman ahead of Catholic families with children.
1972 A secret meeting took place between the PIRA and officials from William Whitelaw's office.
21st 1978 Three members of the IRA and a passing Protestant civilian were shot dead by undercover British soldiers during an attempted bombing on a Post Office depot in Belfast.
22nd 1974 A Catholic civilian was shot dead by a British soldier in Strabane. The shooter became the first British soldier to be charged with murder during the conflict.
23rd 1986 The Northern Ireland Assembly was dissolved. Loyalist protesters gathered outside Stormont and were baton-charged by the RUC.
2001 Loyalists killed a Catholic civilian, John McCormick.
24th 1969 The Parliamentary Commissioner Act (Northern Ireland) became law. It provided a Commissioner to investigate complaints of maladministration.
1994 British Prime Minister John Major met Taoiseach Albert Reynolds during a European Union conference in Corfu.
25th 1998 An election was held in Northern Ireland to choose representatives for the new Northern Ireland Assembly.
26th 1970 Five people died in a premature explosion in Creggan. The casualties included two girls aged 9 and 4. Their father, a member of the IRA, had been making a bomb. The girls were the first females to die in the conflict.
1972 The PIRA began a 'bi-lateral truce' as at midnight, a prelude to secret talks with the British Government.
1991 The Maguire Seven had their convictions quashed.
2000 The IRA said in a statement that it had opened some of its arms dumps to be viewed by independent weapons inspectors.
27th 1970 A major gun battle occurred in Belfast after Loyalists invaded the Catholic Short Strand area. Members of the IRA took up position in the grounds of St Matthew's Catholic Church. Six people, including five Protestants, were killed across Belfast.
28th 1973 Elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly Election were held. The turnout was 72.3% despite violence. Pro-White Paper parties got 52 seats against 26 against.
29th 1996 Relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday wrote to Prince Charles, asking him to condemn the soldiers' actions. However, a reply from the Prince's private secretary said it was 'necessary to move on, rather than dwell on past tragedies'.
30th 1981 The British government issued a statement on prison policy in Northern Ireland. It said it would not grant special category status.


JULY
1st 1998 The first meeting of the 'Shadow' Assembly was held and a First Minister Delegate and Deputy First Minister Delegate elected (the UUP's David Trimble and the SDLP's Seamus Mallon respectively).
2001 David Trimble resigned as First Minister and called on British Prime Minister to suspend the Northern Ireland Assembly.
2nd 1980 The British government published a discussion document suggesting two possible options as potential solutions to the conflict. However, Unionists rejected power-sharing and Nationalists rejected the option of majority rule.
1998 The LVS carried out arson attacks on 10 Catholic churches.
2000 Rioting at Drumcree when hundreds of Loyalists threw missiles at security forces.
3rd 1970 The Falls Road Curfew came into effect.
1991 In order to prevent the complete collapse of negotiations, Secretary of State Peter Brooke announced at Westminster that he was ending this stage of the political talks.
1995 Lee Clegg, the paratrooper sentenced to life for the murder of Catholic civilian Karen Reilly in 1993, was released from prison on the orders of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Patrick Mayhew. The decision sparked riots.
4th 1991 The Combined Loyalist Military Command ceasefire ended.
1999 Trouble flared at Drumcree for the fifth year in a row.
2001 Loyalists killed Catholic civilian Ciaran Cummings.
5th 1998 The Drumcree parade by the Portadown District Lodge became a flashpoint for conflict for the fourth year running.
6th 1986 Riots occurred in Portadown after the annual Orange Order parade was permitted by the RUC to pass through.
1997 'Drumcree III' took place when large number of the RUC entered the Garvaghy Road area of Portadown to ensure that the path of the Orange Order parade was free for the marchers.
7th 1972 Secret talks took place between the IRA and the British Government.
1985 The RUC took the decision to allow an Orange Order parade to Drumcree Church in a mainly Catholic area of Portadown, leading to clashes between Nationalist protesters and the RUC.
1996 'Drumcree II' took place when the RUC prevented a march by Portadown Orangemen.
8th 1971 Two Catholic civilians, Seamus Cusack and Desmond Beatie, were shot dead by British soldiers.
1981 Joe McDonnell became the fifth hunger striker to die. He had gone on strike to replace Bobby Sands.
9th 1972 The Truce between the PIRA and the British Army came to an end. The British Army had prevented Catholic families who had been intimidated by Loyalists out of their homes in Rathcoole from moving into empty houses. Soldiers fired rubber bullets at the crowd and the IRA opened fire on the troops.
1974 The End of Internment was announced.
1995 A stand-off took place at Drumcree when the RUC prevented an Orange Order parade from returning from Drumcree Church to Portadown.
2001 Political talks began in Weston Park between Blair, Ahern and the pro-Agreement parties.
10th 1970 A 62-year-old Catholic civilian, Patrick Elliman, was shot dead by the British army near his home in Belfast.
1972 Granada TV showed a 'World in Action' episode about Gusty Spence, the UVF leader in hiding after jumping bail.
11th 1971 The IRA exploded a number of bombs in the centre of Belfast. Some commentators saw the bombs as an attempt to increase sectarian tensions.
12th 1998 Three Catholic boys died when loyalists bombed their Ballymoney home in a sectarian attack.
2001 Serious violence broke out in Belfast after the RUC sealed off part of the Ardoyne area of Belfast for an Orange Order parade.
13th 1981 Martin Hurson became the sixth hunger striker to die.
1983 The IRA exploded a land mine in Tyrone killing four members of the UDR.
1996 The CIRA set off a bomb outside a hotel in Enniskillen, causing substantial damage.
14th 1969 Francis McCloskey, a 67-year-old Catholic civilian, became the first person to die in the conflict. He had been hit on the head with a baton by an RUC officer during street disturbances in Dungiven.
15th 1999 The attempt to form an Executive of the Northern Ireland Assembly collapsed when the UUP failed to attend, and the DUP refused to nominate members.
16th 1991 The Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference held a meeting in Dublin. Its meetings had been suspended for 11 weeks to allow the Brooke/Mayhew talks to proceed.
17th 1974 The Westminster Parliament passed the Northern Ireland Act 1974 which contained provisions for the election of a Constitutional Convention on future government.
18th 1995 A meeting took place between the British and Sinn Féin in Derry. News of the meeting was not published for six days.
19th 1997 The IRA made a statement announcing the resumption of the 1994 ceasefire.
20th 1982 The IRA exploded two bombs at Hyde Park and Regent's Park in London, killing eleven soldiers.
1990The IRA exploded a large bomb at the London Stock Exchange.
1997 A renewed IRA ceasefire began.
21st 1972 On 'Bloody Friday', the IRA exploded 22 bombs in Belfast which killed 9 people and seriously injured 130 others. Numerous hoax warnings were also issued which added to the chaos.
1976 Christopher Ewart Biggs, the British Ambassador to Ireland, was killed by the IRA. The Secretary of State, Merlyn Rees, narrowly escaped being killed in the attack.
22nd 1972 Three Catholic civilians were abducted and shot dead in two separate incidents in Belfast.
23rd 1991 A merger between the Royal Irish Rangers and the Ulster Defence Regiment was announced.
24th 1994 Sinn Féin held a special conference in Letterkenny to consider the Downing Street Declaration. Gerry Adams heralded it as a 'potentially significant change' which he welcomed.
25th 1989 RUC man Alexander Bell died after being injured in a land mine attack on an armoured patrol car.
26th 1972 Two Catholic men were abducted and killed, and a British soldier was shot dead.
1987 The IRA shot dead off-duty RUC man Norman Kennedy.
27th 1978 About 10,000 people took part in a Civil Rights march from Coalisland to Dungannon.
28th 2000 The final 76 paramilitary prisoners were released under the Good Friday Agreement.
29th 2001 Loyalists killed Protestant teenager Gavin Brett as he stood with Catholic friends outside a GAA club.
30th 1985 The British government prevented the transmission of the BBC's documentary 'Real Lives: At The Edge of the Union' that featured an interview with Martin McGuinness.
1990 Conservative MP Ian Gow was killed outside his home by an IRA bomb.
1999 The IRA abducted and killed Catholic taxi-driver Charles Bennett.
31st 1972 'Operation Motorman' began, an attempt to dismantle the barricades on the boundaries of 'no-go' areas. It would be the biggest British military operation since the Suez crisis. The same day, the IRA exploded three car bombs in Claudy, killing 9 civilians. Five of the victims were Catholics.
1973 The new Northern Ireland Assembly met for the first time amid protests.
1975 The Miami Showband Massacre.
1994 The IRA killed two UDA members.


AUGUST
1st 1981 INLA member Kevin Lynch became the seventh hunger striker to die.
2001 A bomb was left at Belfast International Airport.
2001 The British and Irish governments published their Implementation Plan for the Good Friday Agreement.
2nd 1970 Rubber baton rounds were introduced for riot control.
1981 Kieran Doherty became the eighth hunger striker to die.
2001 Republican paramilitaries carried out a bomb attack in the Ealing area of London.
3rd 1976 The IRA carried out a series of six bomb attacks on Portrush, Co. Antrim.
4th 1988 The IRA killed two Protestant construction workers who had been carrying out repairs at Belleek police station.
5th 1969 In the first UVF attack on the Republic of Ireland, a bomb damaged the RTÉ headquarters in Donnybrook.
6th 1973 Kenneth Littlejohn, arrested during a bank robbery in the Republic, claimed during his trial that he had been working for British Intelligence in an attempt to infiltrate the OIRA.
7th 1986 Loyalists 'invaded' the Republic at Clontibret, led by Peter Robinson of the DUP. They entered the Garda Síochána station and assaulted two Garda officers.
8th 1981 Thomas McElwee became the ninth hunger striker to die.
1999 The INLA stated that the war was over.
9th 1971 During raids across Northern Ireland, 342 people were arrested and interned in makeshift camps. There was an upsurge in violence, and 17 people were killed over the next 48 hours. This included 10 Catholic civilians shot dead by the British Army. The first Catholic priest to be killed, Hugh Mullan, was shot while giving last rites to a wounded man.
10th 1976 The Peace People (Women's Peace Movement) was established.
1992 The Ulster Defence Association was proscribed.
2001 The Northern Ireland Assembly was suspended for one day.
11th 1972 Two IRA members were killed when a bomb they were transporting exploded prematurely.
1993 Catholic civilian Seamus Hopkins was beaten to death in the Shankill area.
12th 1969 The Battle of the Bogside began when the annual Apprentice Boys parade passed close to the Bogside area,triggering rioting which brought the RUC into the area.
1997 The first debate between the Sinn Féin and UUP took place on TV, on 'Newsnight'.
13th 1995 Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin said during a speech that the IRA 'haven't gone away, you know'.
2001 Three suspected IRA men were arrested in Colombia.
14th 1969 After two days of fighting in the Bogside area, the Stormont government asked the British government to allow British troops to be deployed. On the same day, on the Cathedral Road in Armagh, Catholic civilian John Gallagher was shot dead by the B-Specials. He would be recorded by the RUC as the first official victim of the Troubles.
2001 The IRA withdrew its decommissioning proposals.
15th 1969 Six people were killed during sectarian riots in Belfast.
1971 The SDLP announced a campaign of civil disobedience in response to Internment.
1998 A bomb planted by the Real IRA killed twenty-nine people in Omagh. Hundreds of other people were injured.
16th 1976 Two Catholic civilians were killed by a bomb planted by Loyalist paramilitaries outside the Step Inn in Keady.
17th 2001 Revised proposals for the policing service were published.
18th 1998 The Real IRA announced that it was suspending all military operations.
19th 1993 Jean Kennedy Smith, American Ambassador to the Republic, paid an official visit to Derry and Fermanagh.
20th 1981 Michael Devine became the tenth hunger striker to die.
1988 An IRA bomb at Ballygawley killed eight British soldiers.
2001 The SDLP supported the policing plan.
21st 1970 The Social and Democratic Labour Party was established. Its first leader was Gerry Fitt.
2000 Two men, Jackie Coulter and Bobby Mahood were killed during a Loyalist paramilitary feud.
22nd 1972 The IRA planted a bomb at Newry. It exploded prematurely, killing five Catholic civilians and three members of the IRA.
1998 The INLA announced a ceasefire.
23rd 1972 Four civilians and a British Army soldier were injured in separate overnight shooting incidents.
1993 The Northern Ireland Office and Republican sources denied a report in the Sunday Times that the British government and army had drawn up a secret peace strategy involving talks with the IRA.
24th 1968 The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association and other groups held the first civil rights march. It went from Coalisland to Dungannon. Loyalists organised a counter-demonstration, and the official rally was officially banned.
25th 1973 Loyalists shot and killed 3 Catholic civilians during an attack on their workplace on Cliftonville Road in Belfast.
26th 1997 The British and Irish governments jointly signed an agreement to set up an Independent International Commission on Decommissioning.
1998 Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, visited the site of the bomb in Omagh. He promised draconian measures to deal with paramilitary groups that refused to call a ceasefire, and was criticised by Sinn Féin.
27th 1979 The IRA killed 18 British soldiers at Warrenpoint. On the same day, an IRA booby-trap bomb killed Louis Mountbatten, cousin of the Queen.
28th 1994 John Hume of the SDLP and Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin made a fourth joint statement. It said that peace would only be achieved if the settlement was based on national self-determination by 'the Irish people as a whole'.
29th 1989 The Ulster Freedom Fighters claimed they had received security force files on IRA suspects, and those files had led to the death of Loughlin Maginn on 25th August.
1997 Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Mo Mowlam said she 'accepted the veracity' of the IRA ceasefire and would be accepting Sinn Féin to attend multi-party talks at Stormont.
30th 1988 Three members of the IRA were shot dead by the SAS near Drumnakilly, Co. Tyrone.
31st 1994 The IRA announced a complete cessation of military operations.


SEPTEMBER
1st 1981 The first religiously integrated secondary school, Lagan College, opened in Northern Ireland.
1991 A delegation of politicians from the USA arrived in Northern Ireland, led by Tom Foley. Foley called on Americans not to provide financial support for the Irish Northern Aid Committee. Foley also refused to meet representatives of Sinn Féin until they renounced violence.
2nd 1976 The European Commission on Human Rights decided that Britain had to answer a case of ill-treatment of internees in 1971.
1992 Strand Two of the Brooke/Mayhew talks resumed.
3rd 1998 US President Bill Clinton visited Northern Ireland. On the same day, the Criminal Justice (Terrorism and Conspiracy) Bill was rushed through.
2001 Loyalists protested at the Holy Cross Girls' Primary School.
4th 1976 Around 2500 people attended a Peace People's rally in Derry.
5th 1971 The IRA Army Council proposed the idea of a nine county Ulster Assembly (Dáil Uladh) in a set of constitutional proposals.
6th 1971 14-year-old Annette McGavigan was shot dead by a British soldier in the Bogside.
1978 Gerry Adams, then Vice-President of Sinn Féin, was cleared of IRA membership on grounds of insufficient evidence.
1999 George Mitchell began his review of the Good Friday Agreement. His focus was breaking the deadlock over decommissioning and the formation of the Executive.
7th 1998 The Real IRA announced a 'complete cessation' of its campaign.
8th 1995 David Trimble was elected leader of the UUP following the resignation of James Molyneux.
9th 1969 Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark announced that the British Army would erect a 'peace-line' between Catholic and Protestant areas in Belfast. Initially temporary, the structure would become permanent.
1997 Sinn Féin signed the Mitchell principles.
1999 The Patten Report was released. It recommended a radical overhaul of the police service and encouraged Catholics to join.
10th 1998 First Minister designate David Trimble had his first face-to-face meeting with Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Féin.
11th 1998 The first seven paramilitary prisoners were released under the Good Friday Agreement.
12th 1969 The Cameron Report into disturbances in Northern Ireland was published.
13th 1976 The Unionist Party of Northern Ireland elected Anne Dickson as its new leader. She became the first woman to lead a political party in Ireland.
14th 1976 The Blanket Protest began when Kieran Nugent refused to wear prison clothes in protest against the new prison regime.
15th 1997 Multi-party talks resumed. Sinn Féin entered Stormont, but the UUP, PUP and UDP did not turn up to the first plenary session, holding their own meeting instead.
16th 1994 The British broadcasting ban on Sinn Féin was lifted.
17th 1973 Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave met British Prime Minister Edward Heath at Baldonnell, Co. Dublin.
1994 Nationalists clashed with RUC officers in Ballymurphy, west Belfast.
18th 1986 The British and Irish governments set up the International Fund for Ireland.
19th 1976 Protestant civilian Joseph Paton died four days after being injured in an IRA bomb attack on the Belfast Telegraph building.
20th 1997 Loyalists resumed their picket of that Catholic church in Harryville, in Ballymena.
21st 2000 The DUP took the South Antrim seat from the UUP.
2001 The Northern Ireland Assembly was suspended for one day.
22nd 1989 The IRA exploded a bomb at Deal Barracks in Kent, killing ten musicians who were taking part of the staff band of the Royal Marines.
23rd 1992 The IRA bombed the forensic science laboratories in south Belfast.
24th 1997 Procedures for negotiations were agreed at multi-party talks.
25th 1983 Thirty-eight members of the IRA escaped from the Maze (Long Kesh) prison.
26th 1971 David Bleakly resigned as Minister of Community Relations in protest over the introduction of Internment.
1981 Liam McCloskey ended his hunger strike on day 55.
27th 1995 The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the 1988 shooting of three unarmed IRA members in Gibraltar by the SAS breached the Human Rights Convention.
28th 2001 Loyalists killed journalist Martin O'Hagan. He was the first journalist killed during the conflict.
29th 1979 Pope John Paul II visited Drogheda and appealed to the crowd 'on my knees I beg of you to turn away from the paths of violence'.
30th 1990 Two teenage joy riders, both Catholics, were shot dead by British army paratroopers in Belfast.
1997 The format of negotiations was agreed in the talks at Stormont. The talks would take place in three strands, dealing with government in Northern Ireland, relationships between NI and the Republic, and between Ireland and Britain.


OCTOBER
1st 1968 The Apprentice Boys of Derry announced its intention to hold an 'annual' march along the same proposed route as the Civil Rights demonstration. This provided an excuse to ban the march.
2nd 1975 Twelve people died in UVF attacks across Northern Ireland.
1991 Channel 4 broadcast 'The Committee', claiming that there was an 'inner circle' in the RUC and UDR colluding with Loyalist paramilitaries in the killing of Catholics.
3rd 1981 The republican hunger strike ended.
4th 1981 It was announced that the blanket protest would continue even though the hunger strike had ended.
2001 The Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland issued a report on the death of Catholic Samuel Devenny, who had been killed by the RUC in April 1969.
5th 1968 A civil rights march in Derry, organised by the Derry Housing Action Committee and supported by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, was baton-charged by police. The incident was televised and came to worldwide attention. Two days of rioting followed. This is considered by many to be the start date of the 'Troubles'.
1974 The IRA bombed two pubs in Guildford, England, killing five people.
6th 1981 Changes to the prison policy were announced. Prisoners would be allowed to wear civilian clothes, free association would be extended, the number of visits increased, and up to 50% of lost remission would be restored.
7th 1993 John Hume of the SDLP met Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and gave a report of the meetings he had had with Sinn Féin.
1996 The IRA bombed the British Army Headquarters at Lisburn.
1997 Substantive talks began at Stormont.
8th 1989 Twenty-eight members of the Ulster Defence Regiment were arrested by the RUC as part of the Stevens inquiry into the leaking of security force documents to Loyalist paramilitary groups.
9th 1968 People's Democracy was formed after a student march, which had been blocked by a counter demonstration led by Ian Paisley.
10th 1969 The Hunt Report was published, recommending that the RUC became unarmed and the B-Specials should be disbanded.
1974 The United Ulster Unionist Council won 10 out of 12 seats in Northern Ireland during the UK general election.
1977 The Peace People won the Nobel Peace Prize.
11th 1969 Victor Arbuckle became the first RUC member to be killed in the conflict. He was shot dead by Loyalists during street disturbances on the Shankill Road.
1999 Peter Mandelson was appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Mo Mowlam insisted she had not been forced out by Unionists.
12th 1984 The IRA bombed the Grand Hotel in Brighton, where the ruling Conservative Party were in conference. Five people died.
2001 The UDA, UFF and LVF were 'specified', meaning that the British government considered their ceasefires at an end.
13th 1994 The Combined Loyalist Military Command announced a ceasefire. Its permanence would depend on there being no return to republican violence.
14th 1988 Members of the APNI, SDLP, UUP and DUP met for talks in Duisburg, West Germany.
15th 1968 The Nationalist Party of Northern Ireland withdrew from its role as the official opposition within the Northern Ireland parliament at Stormont.
16th 1968 The People's Democracy organised a march of 1,300 students in Belfast.
17th 1997 Secretary of State for Northern Ireland announced the remit of a Parades Commission.
18th 2001 Three UUP ministers resigned from the Northern Ireland Executive in protest at a failure to resolve outstanding issues on decommissioning.
19th 1969 UVF member Thomas McDowell was fatally injured when a bomb he was planting exploded prematurely.
1988 The British government introduced broadcasting restrictions on proscribed organisations, including Sinn Féin, Republican Sinn Féin and the Ulster Defence Organisation.
1989 The Guildford Four were released on appeal.
20th 1982 Assembly elections took place, the first election since the beginning of the conflict to be contested by Sinn Féin. Sinn Féin got 10.1% of first preference votes, meaning five seats.
21st 1981 UDR member Julian Connolly was shot dead by the IRA outside his home at the Zoological Gardens.
22nd 1975 The Guildford Four were found guilty of causing explosions in London in October 1974. It was later found that their confessions had been fabricated by police.
23rd 1993 Ten people were killed when a bomb planted by the IRA on the Shankill Road exploded prematurely.
2001 The IRA confirmed that they had begun decommissioning, following a request from Gerry Adams.
24th 1990 The IRA launched three 'proxy bomb' attacks at British Army check points.
25th 1993 The UVF interrogated and killed Catholic pensioner Sean Fox at his home in Glengormley.
26th 1981 Police explosives officer Kenneth Haworth was killed by the bomb he was trying to diffuse in London.
27th 1980 Seven Republican prisoners began a hunger-strike to protest at the ending of special category status.
28th 1981 Catholic civilian Edward Brogan was killed by the INLA for alleged informing.
29th 2001 A RIR soldier shot dead two civilians. There was disagreement between the RUC and Sinn Féin on whether the killings were sectarian.
30th 1993 The UFF, a cover name for the UDA, killed six Catholic civilians and one Protestant civilian at the Rising Sun bar in Greysteel.
31st 1969 The UVF exploded a bomb at the grave of Wolfe Tone in Bodenstown, Co. Kildare.
1998 The deadline was missed for the formation of the Executive Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the North-South Ministerial Body. The source of disagreements was decommissioning.


NOVEMBER
1st 1969 The UVF claimed responsibility for exploding a bomb at the grave of Wolfe Tone at Bodenstown the previous day.
2nd 1986 Sinn Féin split over the issue of ending the policy of abstentionism from Dáil Éireann.
3rd 1993 The Irish Congress of Trade Unions organised peace rallies in Belfast and Derry.
4th 2001 A new police force, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, came into being.
5th 1972 Maire Drumm, vice-President of Sinn Féin, was arrested in the Republic of Ireland.
6th 1997 Sinn Féin split over the party's acceptance of the Mitchell Principles.
2001 The First and Deputy First ministers were elected (David Trimble of the UUP and Mark Durkan of the SDLP).
7th 1974 The IRA killed two British soldiers with a booby-trap bomb near Stewartstown, Co. Tyrone.
8th 1987 The IRA planted a bomb at the Remembrance Day ceremony in Enniskillen, killing eleven people, including three married couples.
9th 1990 Peter Brooke, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, made a major speech on the British position on Northern Ireland, saying that Britain had no 'selfish economic or strategic interest' in Northern Ireland.
1997 Loyalist paramilitaries murdered Protestant civilian Raymond McCord.
10th 1986 The Ulster Resistance was formed to 'take direct action as and when required' to end the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
1992 Unionists withdrew their support from the Brooke/Mayhew political talks.
11th 1982 Three IRA members, Sean Burns, Gervaise McKerr, Eugene Toman, were killed by undercover police at a checkpoint while unarmed. This incident later became part of the 'shoot to kill' inquiry.
2001 A Protestant teenager, Glen Branagh, was killed when a pipebomb he was holding exploded prematurely. He had been a member of the youth wing of the UDA.
12th 2001 Loyalists killed former UDA member William Stobie.
2001 The Ombudsman's report on Omagh was published. It stated that chances had been missed to prevent the bombing and to apprehend the bomber.
13th 1981 The IRA carried out a bomb attack on the home of the British Attorney-General in London.
14th 1981 UUP MP the Reverend Robert Bradford was shot dead by the IRA.
15th 1985 The Anglo-Irish Agreement was signed by Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. It stated that the status of NI would only change with majority consent.
1986 Unionists and Loyalists held a large demonstration in Belfast to protest against the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
16th 1971 The report of the Compton inquiry was published. It acknowledged that there had been ill-treatment of internees, so-called 'in-depth interrogation', but denied that there had been systematic brutality or torture.
17th 1968 The Nationalist party adopted a policy of civil disobedience.
18th 1999 George Mitchell ended his review of the Agreement. He said that the basis existed for devolution.
19th 1984 An Anglo-Irish summit meeting took place, with Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher attending. Afterwards Thatcher dismissed the New Ireland's Forum's solutions as 'out, out, out'.
20th 1979 A White Paper was published on meeting 'the immediate needs of Northern Ireland'. It stated that 'direct rule' from Westminster was not a satisfactory basis for government.
1983 The 'Catholic Reaction Force', believed to be the INLA, shot dead three civilians in church.
21st 1973 An Agreement between various political parties was reached on forming a power-sharing Executive.
1974 The IRA bombed two pubs in Birmingham, killing 21 civilians.
22nd 1968 Northern Ireland Prime Minister announced a package of reform measures. It would include a Development Commission, an ombudsman, allocation of houses to be based on need and the Special Powers Act to be abolished.
23rd 1981 Ian Paisley of the DUP led a Loyalist 'Day of Action' to protest the British government's policy on security.
1985 A huge Unionist rally took place against the Anglo-Irish Agreement, rallying under the slogan 'Ulster Says NO'.
1999 The RUC was awarded the George Cross for gallantry. The British government rejected suggestions that it was intended to placate Unionists at a time of major change.
24th 1982 Catholic civilian Michael Tighe, aged 17, was shot by police in what would become a subject of the shoot-to-kill inquiry.
1991 Two Loyalist paramilitary prisoners were killed by an explosion inside Crumlin Road Prison in Belfast.
25th 1971 Labour leader Harold Wilson proposed that Britain work towards a withdrawal from Northern Ireland.
1973 Two British soldiers were shot dead by the IRA in the Bogside.
26th 1971 General Ford, Commander of Land Forces in Northern Ireland, issued orders that the army should try to 'recreate the state of law in the Creggan and Bogside'.
1976 Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Roy Mason said that the region might be left behind by the 'tide of devolution'.
27th 1995 A Catholic civilian, Norman Harley, was killed in a sectarian attack. The murderers were not paramilitaries.
28th 1978 A Bill was passed in the House of Commons to increase the number of Northern Ireland MPs at Westminster from 12 to 17.
1993 The 'Observer' newspaper revealed the extent of secret talks between the British Government and the Republican Movement.
1995 The British and Irish governments issued a Joint Communiqué stating that they had launched a 'twin-track' process on decommissioning and all-party negotiations.
29th 1974 The Prevention of Terrorism Act was passed in response to the Birmingham bombs.
1999 A power-sharing Executive was appointed.
30th 1995 The US President Bill Clinton became the first serving President of the USA to visit Northern Ireland.


DECEMBER
1st 1972 Two people were killed and 127 injured when car bombs exploded in Dublin. No organisation claimed responsibility, but suspicion fell on the UVF.
1976 The Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act came into effect. It was intended to eliminate unlawful discrimination on grounds of politics or religion, and to promote equality through affirmative action.
1994 Bill Clinton, the US President, appointed George Mitchell as a special adviser on Ireland.
2nd 1999 Direct Rule came to an end as powers were devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
3rd 1973 Francis Pym succeeded William Whitelaw as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
1981 Ian Paisley, leader of the DUP, claimed that the 'Third Force' had up to 20,000 members. Secretary of State James Prior responded that private armies would not be tolerated.
4th 1974 Fifteen Catholic civilians died in a Loyalist bomb attack on the Tramore Bar, known as McGurk's, in Belfast.
5th 1975 Internment without trial ended.
6th 1973 The Sunningdale Agreement was reached. The conference was the first occasion that the British Prime Minister, the Irish Taoiseach and the Northern Ireland government had attended the same talks on the future of Northern Ireland.
1975 There was a siege at Balcombe Street in London when British police chased a group of IRA men who took refuge in a flat, holding a married couple hostage.
1982 The INLA exploded a bomb at the Droppin' Well Bar in Ballykelly, killing 17 people including 11 British soldiers.
7th 1971 An off-duty member of the UDR was shot dead by the IRA in County Tyrone.
8th 1980 British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher attended a summit meeting in Dublin.
9th 1973 A communiqué was issued that would become known as the Sunningdale Agreement.
10th 1974 Senior IRA representatives held secret talks with eight Protestant clergymen in Feakle, County Clare, Republic of Ireland.
1998 John Hume of the SDLP and David Trimble of the UUP received Nobel Peace Prizes.
11th 1997 A Sinn Féin delegation met the British Prime Minister Tony Blair at Downing Street.
12th 1982 Two INLA members, Rodney Carroll and Seamus Grew, were shot dead by the RUC in what became the third incident in the 'shoot to kill' inquiry.
2000 US President Bill Clinton arrived in Ireland for his third visit as President.
13th 2000 US President Bill Clinton visited Belfast.
14th 1984 Ian Thain became the first British soldier to be convicted of murdering a civilian. He would serve two years before returning to active service.
1998 The United Kingdom Unionist Party split.
15th 1993 British Prime Minister John Major and Taoiseach Albert Reynolds issued a joint Declaration from Downing Street, stating that they aimed to foster reconciliation.
2000 The feud between the UDA and the UVF came to an end.
16th 1992 Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Patrick Mayhew, gave a speech in which he said that the British government had no 'pre-selected constitutional outcome' in political talks.
17th 1985 All 15 Unionist Members of Parliament resigned their seats in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement. They intended to use the ensuing by-elections to highlight opposition to the Agreement.
18th 1980 The Republican hunger strike at Long Kesh and other prisons was called off following an appeal by Tomás Ó Fiaich, Catholic Primate of Ireland.
1998 An agreement was reached on government departments and cross-border bodies.
19th 1975 The Loyalist Red Hand Commandos killed five people.
1991 Initiative '92 was launched. It was designed to seek a wide range of opinions on 'ways out of the violent deadlock'.
20th 1972 Five civilians, four of them Catholics, were shot dead during a Loyalist attack on Annie's Bar at the Top of the Hill in the Waterside area of Derry. On the same day, the Diplock Report was published. It recommended that cases should be heard by a Judge with no jury.
21st 1974 The IRA left bombs inside Harrods department store in London and in a pub in Wiltshire.
22nd 1974 The IRA declared a ceasefire to allow the British government to respond to proposals put by the IRA to Protestant clergymen on 10th December.
1994 A Catholic man, Noel Lyness, was killed by loyalist in a sectarian attack.
23rd 1971 British Prime Minister Edward Heath visited Northern Ireland and expressed his determination to end the violence.
1993 Two British Army marines were acquitted of the murder of Sinn Féin member Fergal Caraher, who had been shot in his car.
24th 1973 Two members of the IRA and a Protestant civilian were killed in a bomb attack on a pub in Newry. The bomb had exploded prematurely.
25th 1976 The IRA held a three day ceasefire over the Christmas period.
1996 The graves of 18 Catholics were vandalised in a North Down graveyard.
26th 1969 The UVF exploded a bomb at the Daniel O'Connell monument on O'Connell Street, Dublin.
27th 1997 Members of the INLA shot and killed Billy Wright, leader of the LVF, within the Maze Prison
28th 1969 The Irish Republican Army split into the Provisional IRA and the Official IRA.
29th 1972 President of Sinn Féin, Ruairi O Bradaigh, was arrested and held under new Republic of Ireland legislation.
30th 1971 A member of the IRA was killed in a premature bomb explosion in Santry, Dublin.
31st 1972 Martin McGuinness was arrested and held under new Republic of Ireland legislation.