1972 in Northern Ireland

← 1971 1970 1969 1972 in Northern Ireland → 1973 1974 1975
Centuries:	20th 21st
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	1972 in the United Kingdom 1972 in Ireland Other events of 1972 List of years in Northern Ireland

Events

• January 17 - The "West Belfast Seven" Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) internees escape from prison ship Maidstone moored in Belfast Lough by swimming ashore.
• January 30 - Bloody Sunday: Thirteen unarmed civilians are shot dead in Derry as British paratroopers open fire on a banned civil rights march. A fourteenth, John Johnston, is also to die some months later after having been shot by a paratrooper.
• February 9 - A day of disruption takes place in Northern Ireland as people take to the streets in protest.
• February 10 - The IRA announces a ceasefire.
• February 12 - William Craig launches the Ulster Vanguard movement in Lisburn.
• March 28 - Northern Ireland Parliament suspended after Prime Minister Brian Faulkner resigns. Direct rule introduced.
• April 19 - A report by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery, into the Bloody Sunday shootings exonerates the British troops of blame because the demonstration had been illegal.
• May 30 - The Official Irish Republican Army declares a ceasefire in Northern Ireland.
• June 3 - A Protestant demonstration in Derry against the creation of "no-go" areas in the city ends in violence.
• June 13–14 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army proposes a ceasefire. The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), as intermediaries, make offer to British, who accept terms.
• July 9 - End of British–IRA ceasefire.
• July 21 - Bloody Friday: Nine people die and over one hundred are injured in a series of Provisional IRA explosions in Belfast city centre.
• July 31
  • Operation Motorman, 4:00 AM: British Army begins to regain control of the "no-go areas" established by Irish republican paramilitaries in Belfast, Derry and Newry.
  • Claudy bombing (“Bloody Monday”), 10:00 AM: Three car bombs in Claudy, County Londonderry, kill six immediately with three dying later in hospital. It becomes public knowledge only in 2010 that that a local Catholic priest was an IRA officer believed to be involved in the bombings but his role was covered up by the authorities.
• July - Shankill Butchers begin killing Catholics.
• September 10 - Three British soldiers are killed and four injured when the IRA blows up their Saracen armoured personnel carrier at Sanaghanroe near Dungannon.
• September 25 - Darlington conference on the future of Northern Ireland opens.
• 1972 is the worst year for casualties in The Troubles, with 497 people killed (including 130 British soldiers) and 4,876 injured.

Arts and literature

• The Planning (Northern Ireland) Order first provides for listed buildings in Northern Ireland.
• Seamus Deane's poetry Gradual Wars is published.

Sport

Athletics

• Olympics (Munich)

Pentathlon: Mary Peters becomes the first Irish woman to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games.

Football

• Irish League

Winners: Glentoran

• Irish Cup

Winners: Coleraine 2 - 1 Portadown

• On 13 October 1972 Derry City withdraws from senior football in the Irish League due to security problems in the Brandywell Stadium area.

Motorcycling

• Ulster Grand Prix cancelled due to the political situation.

Snooker

• Alex Higgins wins the World Professional Snooker Championship.

Births

• 15 January - Derek Heasley, cricketer.
• 24 January - Éamonn Burns, Gaelic footballer.
• 12 February - Owen Nolan, ice hockey player.
• 6 March - Terry Murphy, snooker player.
• 24 April - Sinéad Morrissey, poet.
• 21 June - Neil Doak, former cricketer and rugby player.
• 9 July - Darren Corbett, boxer.
• 6 September - Gary Arbuthnot, flautist.
• 1 November
  • Kevin Horlock, soccer player.
  • Gillian Sewell, field hockey player in Canada.
• 24 November - Iain Jenkins, soccer player.
• 28 November - Bronagh Gallagher, actress and singer.
• Full date unknown
  • Stephen Paul McClelland, cyclist.
  • Maggie O'Farrell, novelist.

Deaths

• 22 February - Eva McGown, Official Hostess of Fairbanks and Honorary Hostess of Alaska (born 1883).
• 15 April - Joe McCann, Official Irish Republican Army volunteer killed by British soldiers (born 1947).