2002 in Northern Ireland

← 2001 2000 1999 2002 in Northern Ireland → 2003 2004 2005
Centuries:	20th 21st
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
See also:	2002 in the United Kingdom 2002 in Ireland Other events of 2002 List of years in Northern Ireland

Incumbents

• Monarch - Elizabeth II

Events

• 9 January - Holy Cross dispute: Confrontations outside Holy Cross Primary School, a Roman Catholic girls' school in the largely Protestant Ardoyne district, during the afternoon school run, explode into widespread sectarian rioting which spreads across north Belfast and continues on 10 January, when the school is closed.
• February - West Belfast Task Force recommends creation of the Gaeltacht Quarter, Belfast.^[1]
• 14 February - Kilkeel fishing boat The Tullaghmurray Lass is lost with all three crew in the Irish Sea.
• 14 March - Lisburn and Newry are granted city status.^[2]
• 5 April - The first recruits of the new Police Service of Northern Ireland graduate.
• 4 October - "Stormontgate": Denis Donaldson, Sinn Féin’s Northern Ireland Assembly group administrator, and two others are arrested for intelligence-gathering.
• 14 October - As of midnight the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Executive are suspended by order of the Secretary of State.
• Work is completed on the renovation of the Albert Memorial Clock, Belfast.

Arts and literature

• David Park's novel The Big Snow is published.
• Richard Dormer's one-man play Hurricane (based on the life of snooker player Alex Higgins) opens at the Old Museum Arts Centre, Belfast.

Sport

Football

• Irish League

Winners: Portadown

• Irish Cup

Winners: Linfield 2 - 1 Portadown

• FAI Cup

Winners: Derry City 1 - 0 Shamrock Rovers

Gaelic Athletic Association

• Ulster Senior Football Championship Final

Armagh 1-14 - 1-10 Donegal

• All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final

Armagh 1-12 - 0-14 Kerry

Golf

• Senior British Open Championship held at Royal County Down Golf Club, (winner: Noboru Sugai).
• Graeme McDowell turns professional and wins that season's Volvo Scandinavian Masters.

Ice Hockey

• Belfast Giants won the Ice Hockey Superleague championship.

Deaths

• 8 January - David McWilliams, singer, songwriter, and guitarist (born 1945).
• 17 May - James Chichester-Clark, Fifth Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (born 1923).
• 28 August - Jim McFadden, ice hockey player (born 1920).
• 3 October - John Erritt, Deputy Director of the British Government Statistical Service (born 1931).
• 17 October - Derek Bell, harpist and composer (born 1935).
• David Beers Quinn, historian (born 1909).

References