| 1995 in Ireland Return to Years in Irish History |
|
 English fans riot at Lansdowne Road |
January: The Taoiseach John Bruton held his first formal discussions with Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin leader. From the first of January, parents of a still-born baby were able to register that child's birth, even if the child had been born before that date. February:English football fans rioted at Lansdowne Road after the Irish team scored the first goal. The trouble was blamed on neo-Nazi group Combat 18. The British Prime Minister John Major and Taoiseach John Bruton launched a framework for discussing the peace process in the North of Ireland. |
| March: Northern
Ireland Secretary Sir Patrick Mayhew set out conditions for Sinn
Féin joining all-party talks. Decommissioning of some weapons
was mentioned. On the 24th, British patrols of greater Belfast were
suspended at midnight. April: Nearly two weeks after Gerry Adams ruled out IRA decommissioning during a radio interview, Catholic civilian Michael Mooney was shot dead. It was alleged he was a drug dealer executed by the IRA. |
 Sir Patrick Mayhew, Northern Ireland Secretary |
 Poster opposing the extradition of IRA man Angelo Fusco |
May:
On the day that Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh visited
Northern Ireland, the American President Bill Clinton approved a visa
for Sinn Féin leader to enter the United States. The final edition of The Irish Press and The Evening Press were published. The Irish Press had been running since 1931. June: Ireland got through to the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup. Packard Electric, based in Tallaght, Dublin, laid off four hundred of their workforce. A court in Dublin ruled it would be 'unjust, oppressive and invidious' to allow the extradition of escaped republican prisoner Angelo Fusco. British paratrooper Lee Clegg was released from prison three years after his sentence for shooting dead two teenage joyriders in Belfast. The release led to rioting in Belfast. |
|
July: Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Patrick Mayhew held a secret meeting with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin.
Rioting spread after police blocked a key Orange Order march near Portadown. August: After the crowd at a rally in Belfast called on Gerry Adams to bring back the IRA, he replied 'they haven't gone away, you know'. |
 Rioting in Belfast in the summer of 1995 |
 Irish author Seamus Heaney |
September: David Trimble became leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. In the Republic, the Cabinet agreed the wording of the Constitutional Amendment on divorce. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the 1988 killings of three IRA members by the SAS in Gibraltar had breached their right to life under the Human Rights Convention. October: Irish author Seamus Heaney was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. A court in England ruled that Irish paramilitary prisoners would retain their 'Category A' status. |
|
November: South Africa's deputy-President, FW de Klerk, addressed the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation at Dublin Castle.
A referendum in the Republic was held on divorce. The people narrowly voted to allow it. The result went to a recount. American President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary spent the day in Northern Ireland. The European Court of Justice ruled that in passing the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989 the UK had unlawfully acted in barring those with terrorist convictions from its shores. The challenge had been mounted by John Gallagher who had been imprisoned in the Irish Republic for weapons offences in 1983. December: Bill Clinton visited Dublin and was received by a crowd of 80,000 people at College Green. Plans for a light rail transit system in Dublin were announced. It would eventually be called Luas, and it would link the city centre with Howth, Blackrock and Bray. A tribunal was set up to compensate victims of Hepatitis C. |
 Crowd awaiting Bill Clinton in Belfast |
| Notable Deaths in Ireland |
||||||
| Name | Date of death | Age |
Details | |||
| Tom O'Reilly | 1st February | 79 | Caven Gaelic footballer and independent TD for Cavan | |||
| Desmond Folley | 5th February | 54 | Gaelic footballer and hurler, Fianna Fáil TD | |||
| Gerard Victory | 14th March | 73 | Composer | |||
| Harold Marcus Ervine-Andrews | 30th March | 83 | Recipient of Victoria Cross for gallantry in World War Two | |||
| John Lighton Synge | 30th March | 98 | Mathematician and physicist | |||
| Jeremiah Newman | 3rd April | 69 | Bishop of Limerick | |||
| Brian Coffey | 14th April | 89 | Poet and publisher | |||
| Florrie Burke | 24th April | 86 | Soccer player | |||
| Joseph Tomelty | 7th June | 84 | Actor and playwright | |||
| Rory Gallagher | 14th June | 47 | Guitarist | |||
| Ernest Walton | 25th June | 91 | Nobel Prize winning physicist | |||
| Gordon Wilson | 27th June | 67 | Peace campaigner | |||
| Seán Fallon | 4th July | 57 | Fianna Fáil politician | |||
| Muriel Gahan | 12th July | (98) | Rural campaigner | |||
| Paddy Keaveney | 19th July | 65 | Fianna Fáil politician | |||
| Austin Bourke | 1st August | (82) | Chess player | |||
| Johnny Carey | 23rd August | 76 | Soccer player and manager | |||
| Frank Hall | 21st September | 74 | Journalist and satirist | |||
| Sean Conway | 27th September | - | Fianna Fáil senator | |||
| Brian Lenihan Snr | 1st November | 64 | Fianna Fáil politician and cabinet member | |||
| Neil Blaney | 8th November | 74 | Fianna Fáil politician, cabinet member and MEP | |||
| Coslett Quin | 6th December | 88 | Church of Ireland priest, scholar and linguist | |||
| Philip Lawrence | 8th December | 48 | Headmaster stabbed to death in London | |||
| Sir Colville Montgomery Deverell | 18th December | 88 | Cricketer and colonial administrator | |||
| P. A. Ó Síocháin | 19th December | (90) | Journalist, author and lawyer | |||
| James Boucher | 25th December | 85 | Cricketer | |||
Return to top