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Centuries:	20th 21st
Decades:	1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	2012 in the United Kingdom 2012 in Ireland Other events of 2012 List of years in Northern Ireland

Events during the year2012 inNorthern Ireland.

• First Minister -Peter Robinson
• deputy First Minister -Martin McGuiness
• Secretary of State -Owen Paterson (until 4 September),Theresa Villiers (from 4 September)

• 17 March –Saint Patrick's Day parade and carnival inBelfast city centre and Custom House Square.^[1]
• 31 March – Formerbroadcast journalistMike Nesbittelected leader of theUlster Unionist Party.^[2]

• 15 April –RMSTitanic maiden voyage centenary celebrations, including opening of £90m Titanic Belfast visitor facility.^[1][3]

• 3 May –Bairbre de Brún submitted her resignation to theEuropean Parliament asMEP for Northern Ireland.^[4]
• 22 May –Murder of Michaela McAreavey trial began inMauritius.^[5]

• Lord Mayor's Parade in Belfast.^[1]
• Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee celebrations throughout Northern Ireland.^[1][3]
• 26 June – TheQueen began a two-day visit to Northern Ireland inEnniskillen.^[6]
• 27 June – The Queen met former IRA commanderMartin McGuinness for the first time, in Belfast. They met and shook hands in private in the McGrath Suite of theLyric Theatre. The meeting was witnessed by theDuke of Edinburgh, the Northern Ireland first minister,Peter Robinson, the President of Ireland,Michael D. Higgins, and his wife, Sabina. The Queen and McGuinness shook hands once more in public for the benefit of the media. It was also the first meeting between the Queen and the recently elected president Higgins.^[7][8]

• 3 July –Giant's Causeway Visitors' Centre designed byHeneghan Peng for theNational Trust was opened.^[9]
• 12 July –Marching season culminated inThe Twelfth celebration of theGlorious Revolution and theBattle of the Boyne.^[1]

• 16 August – Thirty antiqueaccordions were stolen inCounty Down.^[10]

• 13 September –Fermanagh playerBrian Óg Maguire died in an industrial accident in the Ballymaconnell Road area of Derrylin.^[11]
• 15 September –Ulster playerNevin Spence died inCounty Down. His father and brother also died.^[12]

• 4 October – ExpelledUlster Unionist Party memberDavid McNarry, representingStrangford, joined theUK Independence Party, giving it its first representative in any of the devolved assemblies in Britain and Northern Ireland.^[13]
• 18 October –Marie Stopes International opened a clinic in Belfast.^[14]
• 23 October –Derry was named fourth in a top ten of cities to visit in 2013 by the travel guidebookLonely Planet.^[15]
• 24 October –Digital television transition in the UK is completed in Northern Ireland.

• 3 November –Match for Michaela atCasement Park.^[16]

• 3 December – Trouble flared inBelfast as hundreds of hooded Loyalists burn Irish tricolours and tried to stormBelfast City Hall.^[17]

• 20 April – Belfast MAC (Metropolitan Arts Centre), designed byHackett Hall McKnight, opened.^[18]
• June – European Pipe Band Championships inStormont.^[1]
• Glenn Patterson's novelThe Mill for Grinding Old People Young was published.^[19]

• 16 January –Occupy Belfast: TheBank of Ireland was occupied in the city.^[20]
• 28 January –Irish Football League Cup final –Coleraine vCrusaders.^[21]

• Irish Indoor Athletics Championships in theOdyssey Arena.^[1]

• 17 March –Loughgiel Shamrocks (Antrim) won theAll-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship, defeatingCoolderry GAA (Offaly) 4–13 to 0–07 in the final.^[22]
• 31 March –Crossmaglen Rangers (Armagh) won theAll-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship, defeatingGarrycastle (Westmeath) 2–19 to 1–07 in the replay after the final initially ended in a 0–15 to 1–12 draw on 17 March.^[23]

• 15 May – The most supported football team in Northern Ireland,Manchester United played a testimonial match for their former goalkeeper,Harry Gregg against anIrish Premiership Select XI in front of over 14,000 Northern Irish Manchester United fans atWindsor Park inBelfast.

^[24]

• 19 May –Ulster Rugby contested the2012 Heineken Cup Final, losing 42–14 toLeinster Rugby.^[25]
• Belfast City Marathon.^[1]

• 3 June – TheOlympic Flame arrived in Belfast, with relay runners carrying it to towns, villages, and beauty spots throughout Northern Ireland.^[1]

• 22 July –Donegal defeatedDown 2–18 to 0–13 to win a second consecutiveUlster Senior Football Championship.^[26]

• British Transplant Games in Belfast.^[1]

• 20 January -Lucy Faulkner, journalist, 86
• 22 February -Frank Carson, comedian and actor, 85
• 16 April -Ray Davey, minister, founded theCorrymeela Community, 97

• 2012 in England
• 2012 in Scotland
• 2012 in Wales

• 2012 in Northern Ireland
• 2010s in Northern Ireland
• Years of the 21st century in Northern Ireland
• 2012 in the United Kingdom
• 2012 in Europe

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