2026 in Northern Ireland

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Events from the year 2026 in Northern Ireland.

Events

January

  • 1 January – Provisional figures released by the Police Service of Northern Ireland indicate that 57 people were killed on Northern Ireland's roads during 2025.[1]
  • 2 January –
    • Two yellow weather warnings for snow and ice are issued for Northern Ireland, one for 2 January, and a second effective from 3 January to 5 January.[2]
    • Mike Nesbitt announces he is stepping down as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party.[3]
  • 3 January –
    • An easyJet flight from Belfast to Egypt is cancelled due to a "group of customers behaving disruptively onboard".[4]
    • Winter snow: Belfast Zoo is closed for the weekend, while some sports fixtures are affected by the adverse weather.[5]
  • 4 January –
    • With a yellow weather warning for snow set to remain in place until midday on Monday 5 January, a number of schools that are due to return following the Christmas holiday announce they will remain closed for the day.[6]
    • A memorial service to mark the 50th anniversary of the Kingsmill massacre takes place in the village of Bessbrook.[7]
  • 5 January – More that 150 schools announce closures for Tuesday 6 January following fresh warning for ice.[8]
  • 6 January –
    • Minister for Finance John O'Dowd publishes a draft multi-year budget covering 2026 to 2026–30 which, if approved by the Executive, would allow departments to plan longer term finances.[9]
    • Teachers in Northern Ireland are offered a 4% pay rise for 2025–26, backdated to 1 September 2025.[10]
  • 7 January – Two people are taken to hospital following a suspected gas explosion at a house in east Belfast.[11]
  • 8 January –
  • 9 January –
    • A major fire breaks out at an industrial estate in Bangor, County Down.[14]
    • A spokesman for the CCEA examination board says that unlike England, where school students taking GCSE exams will be able to receive their results online for the first time in 2026, there are no plans for this to happen in Northern Ireland.[15]
    • The Met Office issues a new yellow weather alert for snow in force from 5pm on Friday 9 January until 11am on Saturday 10 January.[16] The Northern Ireland Fire Service subsequently says that it believes the fire was accidental.[17]
  • 10 January – With the recent cold snap at an end, a yellow warning for rain comes into effect, lasting from 9pm on Saturday 10 January until 9pm on Sunday 11 January.[18] The alert is subsequently cancelled on the morning of 11 January.[19]
  • 12 January – Grok deepfake images controversy: Social Democratic and Labour Party MLA Cara Hunter, who was the victim of a deepfake video, quits social media platform X due to what she describes as a "complete negligence in protecting women and children online".[20]
  • 13 January – Unions representing teachers in Northern Ireland accept a pay rise worth 4% for 2025–26.[21]
  • 15 January –
  • 20 January – Following a trial at Derry Crown Court, John Garrett O'Sullivan, who stored his father's body in a refrigerator following his death in July 2024, is sentenced to three years in prison for the unlawfully preventing the burial of a body, with half of the sentence to be served in custody and half on licence.[24]
  • 21 January – MPs at Westminster vote to remove from the Troubles Legacy Act that a measure providing conditional immunity from prosecutions for Troubles-era crimes.[25]
  • 22 January – A £50m investment is announced for the Ulster Folk Museum.[26]
  • 23 January –
    • Belfast City Council's strategic and resources committee votes to suspend its use of X over concerns about the Grok AI tool, with the proposal to be put to the full council on 2 February.[27]
    • Following a trial at Belfast Crown Court, former teacher William Lloyd-Lavery is found guilty of indecently assaulting five girls at a South Belfast school during the 1970s.[28]
  • 24 January –
    • Three people are taken to hospital after getting into difficulty in the water at Helen's Bay beach.[29]
    • A Sinn Féin billboard near Newry that bears a pro-Palestine slogan is under investigation by council planners after being erected without permission.[30]
  • 25 January – A woman in her 60s dies in hospital after getting into difficulty in water at Helen's Bay beach the previous day.[31]
  • 26 January – It is announced that Northern Ireland will become the first part of the UK to introduce graduated driving licences in an attempt to reduce the number of fatal road crashes involving young people.[32]
  • 27 January – Thousands of people are left without power, and 350 schools are closed for the day, following disruption caused by Storm Chandra.[33]
  • 29 January – The Public Health Agency announces that Knockavoe Special School in Strabane, County Tyrone, will close for three days following an outbreak of scabies.[34]
  • 30 January – Heavy rain causes widespread disruption across Northern Ireland.[35]
  • 31 January – 2026 Ulster Unionist Party leadership election: Jon Burrows officially becomes leader of the Ulster Unionist Party.[36]

February

  • 1 February –
  • 2 February – Queen's University Belfast announces it will sever ties with Senator George Mitchell over his links to Jeffrey Epstein.[40]
  • 3 February –
  • 4 February – The Police Service of Northern Ireland confirms that some officers whose names were published during a data breach in 2023 have now had their names published on Northern Ireland court websites.[43]
  • 6 February – It is announced that Boucher Road Playing Fields in Belfast, which has hosted gigs by artists and groups such as Brice Springsteen and Snow Patrol, is to return to use as sports fields and the community, it is announced.[44]
  • 10 February – A review of Northern Ireland's gender identity services has indicated that Northern Ireland is to be part of a clinical trial to assess the risks and benefits of puberty-blocking drugs in children who question their gender.[45]
  • 13 February –
    • Pádraig Delargy, the Sinn Féin MLA for Foyle, confirms he will not be seeking re-election at the next Stormont Assembly election.[46]
    • Belfast City Council has decided to install sports pitches at Boucher Road Playing Fields.[47]
  • 14 February – The Met Office issues weather warning for snow and ice in parts of Northern Ireland.[48]
  • 17 February – Forty children are involved in a bus crash at Belleeks in County Armagh, but it is confirmed all walked away from the crash without injuries.[49]
  • 18 February –
    • Police confirm the death of the bus driver involved in the previous day's crash at Belleeks, County Armagh.[50]
    • Dermot Parsons resigns as the Presbyterian Church of Ireland's Council for Social Witness secretary.[51]
    • Police Service of Northern Ireland applications from members of the Catholic community have fallen to their lowest for a decade, with 27% of applicants from the Catholic community.[52]
  • 19 February –
    • MLA's at Stormont are to receive a £14,200 pay increase from April, taking their annual salaries to £67,200.[53]
    • The Police Service of Northern Ireland says it has received more than 100 referrals to its safeguarding investigation into the Presbyterian Church of Ireland.[54]
  • 21 February – Three people are killed in a collision between three vehicles in County Armagh.[55]
  • 24 February – The Department of Education issues new legally-binding guidelines following recent changes in the law regarding the wearing of school uniforms at schools.[56]
  • 27 February –

March

  • 6 March – Belfast Zoo says it has euthanised Thheiba and Fidda, its two remaining Barbary lions, who were 22 years old and experiencing health problems.[59]
  • 11 March – The UK government loses its appeal over a judgement throwing out a terror charge against a member of the Irish language rap trio Kneecap.[60]
  • 12 March – The pay rise for members of the Stormont Assembly is confirmed.[61]
  • 13 March – Demolition begins on the grandstand of Casement Park in Belfast ready for the site to be redeveloped into a Gaelic Athletics Association stadium.[62]
  • 16 March – The UK government confirms the Stormont Executive will receive £1.7m to help households in Northern Ireland towards the cost of heating oil.[63]
  • 19 March – The Utility Regulator warns that gas and electric prices will rise if the Iran war continues for another month or two.[64]
  • 20 March –
    • A civil case brought against Gerry Adams over three Provisional IRA bombings that occurred in London and Manchester, is withdrawn.[65]
    • Students at Queen's University Belfast vote to reinstate signage in the English and Irish languages at their students' union, as well as to give English and Irish duel importance at the university.[66]
  • 23 March – Following a trial at Belfast Crown Court, Stephen McCullagh is found guilty of the murder of his pregnant partner, Natalie McNally, in her Lurgan home in December 2022.[67]
  • 24 March – YouTube removes content posted by Stephen McCullagh following his conviction for the murder of Natalie McNally.[68]
  • 27 March – Jim Gamble, who previously lead the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre, is appointed to carry out an independent external review of governance and safeguarding arrangements in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.[69]
  • 30 March – Arnold Schwarzenegger, who spent time in Belfast as a teenager, is awarded an honorary degree by Ulster University for his contributions to public services, environmental advocacy and the arts.[70]

April

  • 4 April – Storm Dave: Around 2,000 properties are left without power after Storm Dave brings high winds to Northern Ireland.[71]
  • 6 April –
    • Northern Ireland becomes the first part of the UK to offer parents two weeks paid leave if the woman experiences a miscarriage at any stage during her pregnancy.[72]
    • Firefighters are called to a huge fire at a recycling centre in County Londonderry.[73]
  • 9 April –
  • 11 April – Dozens of vehicles take part in a slow moving protest against rising fuel prices in Northern Ireland.[77]
  • 13 April –
  • 15 April – Ulster University announces plans to cut 450 jobs.[80]
  • 16 April – Stormont approves £19.2m of funding towards the cost of oil heating for households on top of the £17m pledged by the UK government.[81]
  • 20 April – In the House of Commons, DUP leader Gavin Robinson says that former Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland Marie Anderson was appointed in 2019 "despite security service concerns".[82]
  • 22 April – Northern Ireland Secretary Hillary Benn announces that the UK government will bring forward a "substantial package of amendments" to its Troubles legacy legislation.[83]
  • 24 April – The Northern Ireland Local Government Standards Commissioner suspends Colin Kennedy, a Democratic Unionist Party councillor on Ards and North Down Borough Council, for three months over comments he made during 2023 in which he linked members of the LGBTQ community with Hamas.[84]
  • 25 April –
  • 26 April – The Northern Ireland Environment Agency has set traps to determine whether Asian hornets discovered in County Down in 2025 have survived the winter, BBC News reports.[88]
  • 27 April – Around 100 firefighters from the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service are continuing to tackle a wildfire in the Mourne Mountains, with the operation expected to continue for several days.[89]
  • 28 April – Former teacher William Lloyd-Lavery is sentenced to two years in prison for indecently assaulting four girls at a south Belfast school during the 1970s.[90]
  • 29 April – Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn joins first and deputy first ministers Michelle O'Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly for the formal signing of an investment deal worth £72m for the Causeway Coast and Glens area.[91]
  • 30 April –
    • An inquest into the shooting of five people in west Belfast in 1972 finds that the British Army "lost control" in a number of cases and "overreacted to a perceived threat".[92]
    • Plans for a mother and baby unit specialising in mental health in the grounds of Belfast City Hospital are given the go-ahead.[93]

Scheduled

Holidays

Source:[95][96][97]

Deaths

See also

References

External links

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