1985 in Ireland

Events from the year 1985 in Ireland.

Incumbents

 * President: Patrick Hillery
 * Taoiseach: Garret FitzGerald (FG)
 * Tánaiste: Dick Spring (Lab)
 * Minister for Finance: Alan Dukes (FG)
 * Chief Justice:
 * Tom O'Higgins (until 1 October 1985)
 * Thomas Finlay (from 10 October 1985)
 * Dáil: 24th
 * Seanad: 17th

Events

 * 1 January – Cork celebrated 800 years as a chartered city.
 * 26 February – Former minister Desmond O'Malley was expelled from the Fianna Fáil Party.
 * 28 February – 1985 Newry mortar attack: the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) killed nine Royal Ulster Constabulary officers in a mortar attack at their station in Newry.
 * 4 March – Irish singer Bob Geldof was honoured for his overseas aid efforts at a civic reception in the Mansion House in Dublin.
 * 12 March – The Health (Family Planning) (Amendment) Act allowed the sale of condoms and spermicides to adults without prescriptions.
 * 28 March – Gaisce – The President's Award was created by a trust deed under the patronage of the President of Ireland.
 * 30 March – The Irish rugby team won the Triple Crown and Five Nations Championship at Lansdowne Road stadium in Dublin. They beat England 13–10.
 * 28 April – Dennis Taylor won the Embassy World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.
 * 16 May – The Minister for Education, Gemma Hussey, announced a new £20 million project to create a transition year in post-primary schools.
 * 23 June – Three hundred and twenty nine people were killed when Air India Flight 182 exploded in midair 190 kilometres off the southwest coast of Ireland while flying the Montreal–London–Delhi–Bombay route. A bomb was thought to have been planted by the Khalistan movement.
 * 25 June – Irish police foiled an IRA-sponsored bombing campaign in England which targeted London and English seaside resorts.
 * 13 July – The international Live Aid charity rock concert took place in Wembley Stadium, London. It was organised by Irishman Bob Geldof and Scotsman Midge Ure, and Ireland was the highest per-capita donor country.
 * 22 July – Two women claimed to have seen a statue of the Virgin Mary moving in Ballinspittle, County Cork. The grotto became a pilgrimage site and thousands visited there on 31 July.
 * 25 July – Ireland was struck by a violent thunderstorm, one of the worst in the country's history.
 * 2 September – Spike Island Jail in County Cork was left in ruins following a riot by prisoners.
 * 10 September – The first heart transplant in Ireland was performed.
 * 20 September – President Hillery presented Bob Geldof with a cheque for £7 million as the Irish contribution to the Live Aid appeal.
 * 29 September – The pleasure trawler Taurima, owned by leader of the Fianna Fáil party, Charles Haughey, was wrecked near Mizen Head lighthouse.
 * 11 October – Shop steward Karen Gearon, representing striking workers at Dunnes Stores, addressed the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid on a Day of Solidarity with South African Political Prisoners.
 * 25 October – The first commercial flight departed from the new Knock Airport.
 * 15 November – Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher, signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement at Hillsborough Castle.
 * 27 November – Mary Harney was expelled from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party due to her support of the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
 * 21 December – Desmond O'Malley founded the Progressive Democrats party.

Arts and literature

 * 18 February – Frank McGuinness's play Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme opened on the Peacock Stage of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, winning the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.
 * 1 June – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played their debut Irish concert at Slane Castle in front of 100,000 people, and performed for four hours.
 * 29 June – The first Croke Park concert took place, featuring U2, Squeeze, R.E.M., The Alarm and In Tua Nua.
 * Maeve Binchy's novel Echoes was published.
 * Shaun Davey's orchestral suite for voice and uilleann pipes Granuaile was recorded.
 * Tom Murphy's Conversations on a Homecoming (16 April) and Bailegangaire (5 December) were produced by the Druid Theatre Company in Galway.
 * Alternative rock group Toasted Heretic was founded by Julian Gough in Galway.

Association football

 * Derry City joined the League of Ireland, having been out of senior football since 1972. Monaghan United was also elected to the League this year.

Boxing

 * 8 June – Barry McGuigan won the WBA world featherweight boxing championship.

Golf

 * The Irish Open was won by Seve Ballesteros (Spain).

Rugby Union

 * 30 March – The Irish rugby team won the Triple Crown and Five Nations Championship at Lansdowne Road stadium. They beat England 13–10.

Births

 * 11 January – Mark Yeates, soccer player.
 * 13 January – Pat Flynn, soccer player.
 * 20 January – Neil Gallagher, soccer player.
 * 31 January – James "Cha" Fitzpatrick, Kilkenny hurler.
 * 6 February – John Tennyson, Kilkenny hurler.
 * 7 February – Michael Lyng, Cavan Gaelic footballer.
 * 20 February – Alan O'Brien, soccer player.
 * 28 February – Michael Fennelly, Kilkenny hurler.
 * 2 April – Barry Corr, soccer player.
 * 10 April – Willo Flood, soccer player.
 * 23 April – Gary Mulligan, soccer player.
 * 29 April – Pamela Myers, artist.
 * 4 May – Laura Whitmore, presenter.
 * 13 May – David Bell, soccer player.
 * 8 June – Barry Murphy, soccer player.
 * 15 June – Nadine Coyle, singer
 * 6 July – Killian Scott, actor
 * 10 July – Conan Byrne, soccer player.
 * 17 July – Eoin Larkin, Kilkenny hurler.
 * 22 July – Ryan Dolan, singer
 * 28 July – Darren Murphy, Irish footballer
 * 9 September – Tadhg Purcell, soccer player.
 * 17 September – Brendan Clarke, soccer player.
 * 20 September – George McMahon, actor.
 * 2 October – Mark Quigley, soccer player.
 * 6 October – Karl Bermingham, soccer player.
 * 5 November – Ian Maher, soccer player.
 * 4 December – Stephen Dawson, soccer player.
 * 4 December – Richie Power, Kilkenny hurler.
 * 9 December – Mark Leech, soccer player.
 * 24 December – Donnacha Cody, Kilkenny hurler.
 * 29 December – Patrick Kavanagh, soccer player.

Full date unknown

 * Deirdre Delaney, camogie player.
 * Caoilinn Hughes, novelist.

Deaths

 * 18 January – Wilfrid Brambell, actor (born 1912).
 * 21 February – Dermot Ryan, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin (born 1924).
 * 3 March – Noel Purcell, actor (born 1900).
 * 14 March – Kathleen Lemass, wife of Seán Lemass (born 1898).
 * May – Tommy Murphy, Laois Gaelic footballer (born 1921).
 * 16 June – Alexis FitzGerald Snr, solicitor, Fine Gael Seanad member (born 1916).
 * 17 June – Bernard Bergin, cricketer (born 1913).
 * 29 September – Timothy McAuliffe, Labour Party politician (born 1909).
 * 11 October – Todd Andrews, Irish revolutionary and public servant (born 1901).
 * 4 November – Liam Grainger, Gaelic footballer (Dohenys, Clonakilty, Carbery, Cork senior team, Munster) (born 1913).
 * 4 December – Frederick Boland, diplomat, first Irish ambassador to Britain and to the United Nations (born 1904).
 * 8 December – Jimmy Rudd, soccer player (born 1919).
 * 11 December – Kathleen Ryan, actress (born 1922).
 * 17 December – Leo Maguire, singer, songwriter and radio broadcaster (born 1903).

Full date unknown

 * Sigerson Clifford, poet and playwright (born 1913).
 * Fergus Crawford, soccer player (born 1933).
 * Alex Stevenson, soccer player (born 1912).