31 August – The remains of Belfast mother Jean McConville were found 31 years after she was abducted and murdered by the Provisional IRA, who accused her of being a British Army agent.
15 September – For the first time, the All-Ireland Football Final was contested by two teams from the same province. Tyrone were victorious over Armagh in the first All-Ulster Final.
27 November – The people of Northern Ireland went to the polls. The Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin made massive gains at the expense of more moderate unionist and nationalist parties.
Arts and literatureedit
May – Claire Kilroy's debut novel All Summer was published.
The League of Ireland moved from a predominantly winter season to a Scandinavian-style summer season. Bohemians won the transitional 2002/03 season and Shelbourne won the 2003 championship.