Events during the year 2007 in Northern Ireland. Incumbents First Minister - Ian Paisley (from 8 May) deputy First Minister - Martin McGuinness (from 8 May) Secretary of State - Peter Hain (until 28 June), Shaun Woodward (from 28 June) Events 22 January – Report by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland states that the Special Branch of the then Royal Ulster Constabulary had colluded with loyalist paramilitaries in a number of murders and attempted murders in Northern Belfast between 1989 and 2002. 28 January – Special Sinn Féin Ard Fheis approves a motion calling for devolution of policing and justice to the Northern Ireland Assembly and support for the police services. 30 January, the Prime Minister confirms that assembly elections will go ahead as planned on 7 March. The 'transitional assembly' is thus dissolved, after which campaigning for the elections begins. 7 March – Elections took place for the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly. April – A 100-metre stainless steel 'spire of hope' is installed on St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast. 8 May – Power devolved; Northern Ireland Assembly meets; Ian Paisley becomes the second First Minister of Northern Ireland, with Martin McGuinness as Deputy First Minister. 8–10 June – First Garden Show Ireland staged, at Hillsborough Castle, launched by Dermot O'Neill. 26 June – Former Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Al Hutchinson is announced as the successor to Nuala O'Loan as Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. 28 June – Shaun Woodward MP appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. June – Barbary lion cub is born at Belfast Zoo, the first Barbary lion to be born in Ireland. 17 July – Meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council including the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) for the first time. 31 July – End of Operation Banner, the British Army deployment in Northern Ireland. 30 October – Ryanair starts services from George Best Belfast City Airport. October – Peter Robinson, Minister of Finance, introduces the first draft budget for consultation. 5 November – Al Hutchinson takes up the post of Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. 13 December – IKEA open their first store in Ireland at the Holywood Exchange, Belfast. December – Aer Lingus launch flights from their first base outside the Republic of Ireland at Belfast International Airport. 29 December – Nuala O'Loan, former Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, is appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in