# 1971 in Northern Ireland

Events during the year 1971 in Northern Ireland.

## Incumbents

* Governor - The Lord Grey of Naunton
* Prime Minister - James Chichester-Clark (until 23 March), Brian Faulkner (from 23 March)

## Events

* 6 February – Gunner Robert Curtis becomes the first British Army soldier to be killed in The Troubles.
* 15 February – Decimal Day: The United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland both switch to decimal currency.
* 10 March – 1971 Scottish soldiers' killings: Three young off-duty Royal Highland Fusiliers are lured from a bar in Belfast and shot by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
* 20 March – Maj. James Chichester-Clark resigns as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. He is succeeded on 23 March by Brian Faulkner.
* 16 July – The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) announces that it is withdrawing from the Parliament of Northern Ireland.
* 9 August – Internment without trial is introduced in Northern Ireland. In Operation Demetrius, over 300 republicans are 'lifted' in pre-dawn raids. Some loyalists are later arrested. Twenty people die in riots that follow.
* 9–11 August – Ballymurphy massacre: Members of 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment of the British Army kill 10 civilians in the Springfield Road area of west Belfast during Operation Demetrius; the victims are found by an inquest held in 2018–21 to be "entirely innocent".
* 12 August – British troops begin clearing operations in Belfast following the worst rioting in years. Taoiseach Jack Lynch calls for an end to the Stormont administration.
* 27 September – Prime ministers Edward Heath, Jack Lynch and Brian Faulkner meet at Chequers to discuss the Northern Ireland situation.
* 30 October – The Democratic Unionist Party is founded by the Rev. Ian Paisley.
* 19 November – Taoiseach Jack Lynch has talks with Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Harold Wilson in Dublin.
* 4 December – The McGurk's Bar bombing, carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force in Belfast, kills fifteen people, the highest death toll from a single incident in the city during The Troubles.

## Arts and literature

* 5 March – Ulster Hall, Belfast, becomes the first place in which Led Zeppelin play their iconic song "Stairway to Heaven".
* Paul Muldoon publishes his first poetry collection Knowing My Place.
* Frank Ormsby publishes his first poetry collection Ripe for Company.
* Blackstaff Press established in Belfast.

## Sport
### Football

* Irish League
       Winners: Linfield
* Irish Cup
       Winners: Distillery 3 – 0 Derry City

## Births

* 31 January – Patrick Kielty, comedian and television presenter.
* 1 February – Alan Fettis, footballer.
* 5 June – Susan Lynch, actress.
* 6 June – Siobhan Keegan, Lady Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.
* 25 June – Neil Lennon, footballer.
* 13 July – Eamonn Magee, boxer.
* 2 August
** Michael Hughes, footballer.
** Anthony Tohill, Gaelic footballer.
* 10 September – David Humphreys, Ireland international rugby union footballer.
* 12 December – Naomi Long, née Johnston, Alliance Party leader and MLA.
* Full date unknown – Darran Lindsay, motorcycle road racer (killed in practice 2006).

## Deaths

* 24 January – St. John Greer Ervine, dramatist and author (born 1883).
* 15 May – Billy Reid, volunteer in Provisional Irish Republican Army, killed in gunfight with British Army (born 1939).
* 14 June – Gerard Dillon, artist (born 1916).
* 27 July – Charlie Tully, footballer (born 1924).