Events from the year 1985 in Ireland. Incumbents President: Patrick Hillery Taoiseach: Garret FitzGerald (FG) Tánaiste: Dick Spring (Lab) Minister for Finance: Alan Dukes (FG) Chief Justice: Tom O'Higgins (until 1 October 1985) Thomas Finlay (from 10 October 1985) Dáil: 24th Seanad: 17th Events 1 January – Cork celebrated 800 years as a chartered city. 26 February – Former minister Desmond O'Malley was expelled from the Fianna Fáil Party. 28 February – 1985 Newry mortar attack: the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) killed nine Royal Ulster Constabulary officers in a mortar attack at their station in Newry. 4 March – Singer Bob Geldof was honoured for his overseas aid efforts at a civic reception in the Mansion House in Dublin. 12 March – The Health (Family Planning) (Amendment) Act allowed the sale of condoms and spermicides to adults without prescriptions. 28 March – Gaisce – The President's Award was created by a trust deed under the patronage of the President of Ireland. 30 March – The Ireland national rugby union team won the Triple Crown and Five Nations Championship at Lansdowne Road stadium in Dublin. They beat England 13–10. 28 April – Dennis Taylor won the Embassy World Snooker Championship. 16 May – The Minister for Education, Gemma Hussey, announced a new £20 million project to create a transition year in post-primary schools. 23 June – Three hundred and twenty nine people were killed when Air India Flight 182 (a Boeing 747) crashed into the sea 190 kilometres southwest of Ireland while flying from Montreal in Canada as the result of a bomb thought to have been planted by the Khalistan movement. 25 June – Irish police foiled an IRA-sponsored "mainland" (England) bombing campaign which targeted London and English seaside resorts. 13 July – The international Live Aid charity rock concert took place in Wembley Stadium, London. It was organised by Irishman Bob Geldof, and Ireland was the highest per-capita donor country. 22 July – Two women claimed to have seen a statue of the Virgin Mary moving in Ballinspittle, County Cork. The grotto became a pilgrimage site and thousands visited there on 31 July. 25 July – Ireland was struck by a violent thunderstorm, one of the worst in the country's history. 2 September – Spike Island Jail in County Cork was left in ruins following a riot by prisoners. 10 September – The first heart transplant in Ireland