2007 in Northern Ireland

Incumbents

• First Minister - Ian Paisley
• Deputy First Minister - Martin McGuinness
• Secretary of State - Peter Hain, Shaun Woodward

Events

• 22 January – Report by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland states that the Special Branch of the then Royal Ulster Constabulary had colluded with loyalist paramilitaries in a number of murders and attempted murders in Northern Belfast between 1989 and 2002.
• 28 January – Special Sinn Féin Ard Fheis approves a motion calling for devolution of policing and justice to the Northern Ireland Assembly and support for the police services.
• 30 January, the Prime Minister confirms that assembly elections will go ahead as planned on 7 March. The 'transitional assembly' is thus dissolved, after which campaigning for the elections begins.
• 7 March – Elections took place for the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly.
• April – A 100-metre stainless steel 'spire of hope' is installed on St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast.
• 8 May – Power devolved; Northern Ireland Assembly meets; Ian Paisley becomes the second First Minister of Northern Ireland, with Martin McGuinness as Deputy First Minister.
• 8-10 June – First Garden Show Ireland staged, at Hillsborough Castle, launched by Dermot O'Neill.
• 26 June – Former Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Al Hutchinson is announced as the successor to Nuala O'Loan as Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland.
• 28 June – Shaun Woodward MP appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
• June – Barbary lion cub is born at Belfast Zoo, the first Barbary lion to be born in Ireland.
• 17 July – Meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council including the Democratic Unionist Party for the first time.
• 31 July – End of Operation Banner, the British Army deployment in Northern Ireland.
• 30 October – Ryanair starts services from George Best Belfast City Airport.
• October – Peter Robinson, Minister of Finance, introduces the first draft budget for consultation.
• 5 November – Al Hutchinson takes up the post of Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland.
• 13 December – IKEA open their first store in Ireland at the Holywood Exchange, Belfast.
• December – Aer Lingus launch flights from their first base outside the Republic of Ireland at Belfast International Airport.
• 29 December – Nuala O'Loan, former Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, is appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours 2008.

Arts and literature

• 8 February - Writer, broadcaster and journalist, Benedict Kiely, dies.
• 16 February - Maria Eagle, direct rule Arts Minister, announces a "one-off payment" of £150,000 to sustain the Belfast Festival at Queen's for one more year.
• 19 October - The 45th Belfast Festival at Queen's opens with a smaller than usual programme due to lack of funding.
• 18 December - Arts Minister, Edwin Poots, announces a grant of £300,000 over three years for Belfast Festival at Queen's.
• Malachi O'Doherty's memoir The Telling Year: Belfast 1972 is publishedl.

Sport

Athletics

• 6 January - 30th Belfast International Cross Country Event, Stormont Estate, Belfast.
• 1 February - Armagh International 5k Road Race, The Mall, Armagh.
• 3 February - Northern Ireland and Ulster Cross Country Championships, University of Ulster, Coleraine. Individual winners: Kelly Reid and Brian Campbell.
• 17 February-18 February - Irish Indoor Athletics Championships, Odyssey Arena, Belfast.

Cricket

Football

• European Championship Qualifiers
• Other International Matches
• *Northern Ireland 0 - 0 Wales
• Setanta Cup
• *Winners: Drogheda United
• Irish League
• *Winners: Linfield
• Irish Cup
• *Winners: Linfield

Gaelic Athletic Association

• 15 July - Tyrone defeat Monaghan 1–15 to 1–13 in the final of the Ulster Senior Football Championship.

Golf

• 8 September - 9 September - Walker Cup takes place at Royal County Down Golf Club, Newcastle, County Down.
• Pádraig Harrington wins the British Open in Carnoustie, Scotland. Rory McIlroy wins the silver medal for leading amateur. Darren Clarke misses the cut.

Motorcycling

• 12 May - North West 200
• 17 August - Ulster Grand Prix, Dundrod.

Rugby Union

• *Ireland 32 - 17 Namibia
• *Ireland 14 - 10 Georgia
• *Ireland 3 - 25 France
• *Ireland 15 - 30 Argentina

Deaths

• 3 January - Sir Cecil Walker, Ulster Unionist Member of Parliament for North Belfast, heart attack.
• 8 January - David Ervine, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, heart attack leading to stroke and brain haemorrhage..
• 8 February - Benedict Kiely, writer, broadcaster and journalist.
• 16 February - Norman Miscampbell, British Conservative Party MP.
• 22 February - Miriam Mone, fashion designer.
• 2 April - Emma Groves, blinded by a rubber bullet in 1971, became a leading campaigner for banning the use of plastic bullets, co-founder of the United Campaign Against Plastic Bullets.
• 12 June - Eamonn Coleman, Gaelic footballer and manager.
• 24 June - Derek Dougan, footballer.
• 1 August - Tommy Makem, folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller.
• 6 September - John Kelly, Sinn Féin Councillor and MLA.
• 30 September - Len Graham, footballer.
• 17 October - Sammy Duddy, member of the Ulster Political Research Group.
• 3 November - Martin Meehan, Sinn Féin politician and former volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
• 13 November - Alec Cooke, Baron Cooke of Islandreagh, businessman and politician.
• 31 December - Tommy Dickson, footballer.