1975 in Northern Ireland

← 1974 1973 1972 1975 in Northern Ireland → 1976 1977 1978
Centuries:	20th 21st
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	1975 in the United Kingdom 1975 in Ireland Other events of 1975 List of years in Northern Ireland

Events during the year 1975 in Northern Ireland.

Incumbents

• Secretary of State - Merlyn Rees^[1]

Events

• 10 February – A Provisional IRA (PIRA) ceasefire begins; this ceasefire officially lasts until 23 January 1976.^[2]
• 20 February – A violent feud erupts between the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) and the Irish Republican Socialist Party and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).^[3]
• 1 May – Elections take place for the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention.^[4][5]
• 5 June – United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum takes place across the United Kingdom,^[6] Northern Ireland votes to remain in the European Communities with a slight majority.^[7]
• 17 July – The South Armagh Brigade of the PIRA killed four soldiers at Forkhill, County Armagh with a remote-controlled improvised explosive (Forkhill beer keg bombing).^[8][9]
• 31 July – Miami Showband killings: Three members of The Miami Showband, together with two paramilitaries, are killed in an Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) ambush in County Down as they return home to Dublin from playing at a dance in Banbridge.^[10][11]
• 13 August – Bayardo Bar Attack: The PIRA carried out a gun and bomb attack on the Bayardo Bar on the Shankill Road in Belfast, a bar frequented by UVF commanders. Four Protestant civilians and one UVF member were killed.^[12][13]
• 22 November – Drummuckavall ambush: The PIRA attacked a British Army observation post at Drummuckavall near Crossmaglen, County Armagh, killing three soldiers.^[14]
• 31 December – Central Bar bombing: The INLA carried out a bomb attack on a bar in Gilford, County Down, killing three protestant civilians.^[15][16]

Arts and literature

• 14 May – Patrick Galvin's We Do It For Love, a satire on The Troubles, opens at the Lyric Theatre.^[17][18][19]
• October – Stewart Parker's Spokesong opens at the Lyric (Belfast); his play I’m a Dreamer, Montreal is also written this year.^{[citation needed]}
• The punk rock/new wave band which will become The Undertones is formed in Derry.^[20]
• William Peskett's poems The Nightowl's Dissection are published.^[21][22]

Sport

Football

• Irish League – Winners: Linfield^[23]

• Irish Cup – Winners: Coleraine 1 – 1, 0 – 0, 1 – 0 Linfield^[23]
• 16 August – Ballinamallard United F.C. established^[24]

Births

• 18 February – Keith Gillespie, international soccer player.^[25]
• 9 June – Brian Magee, boxer.^[26]
• 21 July – Cara Dillon, folk singer^[27][28]
• 24 July – Gordon Cooke, cricketer.^[29]
• 27 August – Kyle McCallan, cricketer.^[30]
• 4 September – Andrew Patterson, cricketer.^[31]
• 13 October – Oisín McConville, Armagh Gaelic footballer.^[32][33]
• 4 November – Warren Christie, actor.^{[citation needed]}

Full date unknown

• Nick Laird, novelist and poet.^[34][35]

Deaths

• 23 February – Ernest Blythe, writer, journalist and theatre manager, member of 1st Dáil and Cabinet Minister (born 1889).^[36]
• 28 April – Billy McMillen, OIRA officer, killed in feud with the INLA (born 1927).^[37][38]
• 25 November – Moyna Macgill, stage and film actress, mother of Angela Lansbury (born 1895).^[39]

See also

• 1975 in Scotland
• 1975 in Wales

References

1. Lynn, Brendan (9 March 2025) [2 January 2003]. Melaugh, Martin (ed.). "Rees, Merlyn". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Retrieved 18 November 2025. Secretary of State for Northern Ireland March 1974-September 1976
2. Melaugh, Martin. "A Chronology of the Conflict - 1975: The Irish Republican Army (IRA) Truce". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
3. Melaugh, Martin. "A Chronology of the Conflict - 1975: 20 February 1975". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
4. Melaugh, Martin. "A Chronology of the Conflict - 1975: Constitution Convention Election". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
5. McKenna, Fionnuala (9 March 2025). "Constitutional Convention Election (NI) - Thursday 1 May 1975". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
6. Nelsson, Richard (5 June 2015). "Archive: how the Guardian reported the 1975 EEC referendum". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
7. Moore, Cormac (28 May 2025). "Cormac Moore: 50 years since the first Brexit vote and Ireland is still an afterthought". The Irish News. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
8. Melaugh, Martin. "A Chronology of the Conflict - 1975: 17 July 1975". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
9. "Armagh: Man's convictions for murder of soldiers quashed". BBC News. 22 April 2024. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
10. "Miami Showband: Massacre devastated Northern Ireland live music scene". BBC News. 31 July 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
11. "'Tough day' for survivors of Miami Showband massacre as commemoration events take place". RTÉ News. 31 July 2025. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
12. Melaugh, Martin. "A Chronology of the Conflict - 1975: 13 August 1975". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
13. Lima, Linzi (13 August 2025). "Commemoration marks 50th anniversary of Bayardo attack". BBC News. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
14. Melaugh, Martin (9 March 2025). "A Chronology of the Conflict - 1975". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
15. Flavin, Michael (13 February 2025). "Leadership failings: the Irish republican socialist party, the Irish national liberation army and the Irish people's liberation organisation, 1974–1992". Critical Studies on Terrorism. 18 (2). Routledge: 387. doi:10.1080/17539153.2025.2461671. Retrieved 19 November 2025 – via Taylor & Francis.
16. Sutton, Malcolm. "Sutton Index of Deaths - 31 December 1975". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
17. "We Do It For Love". Playography Ireland. Irish Theatre Institute. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
18. Maume, Patrick (June 2017). "Galvin, Patrick". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Royal Irish Academy. doi:10.3318/dib.009908.v1. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
19. Mullane, Dermot; Dougal, Jim (11 August 1975). "Troubles Satire". RTÉ News. Retrieved 19 November 2025 – via RTÉ Archives.
20. Quinn, Andrew (27 January 2013). "The Sunday Interview - Mickey Bradley from The Undertones". Derry Journal. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
21. "The nightowl's dissection / William Peskett". National Library of Australia. 1110776. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
22. "The nightowl's dissection :: William Peskett". Open British National Bibliography. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
23. Abbink, Dinant (2 February 2021). "Northern Ireland - Final League Tables 1890-1998". RSSSF. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
24. "Ballinamallard begin celebrations for 50th-year re-formation". The Impartial Reporter. 5 June 2025. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
25. "Keith has always done his Best". BBC Sport Academy. BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
26. Wellings, Steve (2012). Irish Boxing Review (PDF) (2012 ed.). pp. 443 (455 in PDF). ISBN 978-1471017360.
27. "Celebrating 80 Years of Music" (PDF) (Press release). BBC NI. p. 10. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
28. "Cara Dillon". UK Festival Guides. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
29. "Gordon Cooke". CricketArchive. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
30. "Kyle McCallan". CricketArchive. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
31. "Andrew Patterson". CricketArchive. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
32. "Free up some points with McConville". BBC Sport Academy. BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
33. ""We did a lot of soldiering together..." Oisin McConville and Tony McEntee on opposite sides as Wicklow host Sligo in National League". The Irish News. 2 February 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
34. "Nick Laird: a life in writing". The Guardian. 4 January 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
35. "Nick Laird". Seamus Heaney Centre. Queen's University Belfast. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
36. "Ernest Blythe, Ulster-Scots minister in post Civil War Dublin government was an Irish language enthusiast". News Letter. 17 February 2025. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
37. Sutton, Malcolm. "Sutton Index of Deaths - 1975". Conflict Archive on the Internet. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
38. Moore, Cormac (29 April 2025). "Definite line on killing of Liam McMillen - On This Day in 1975". The Irish News. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
39. "Moyna M'Gill, 80 Actress, is Dead". The New York Times. 26 November 1975. p. 32. Retrieved 19 November 2025.