28 April – Dennis Taylor won the Embassy World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.
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.[1]
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 was performed.
20 September – President Hillery presented Bob Geldof with a cheque for £7 million as the Irish contribution to the Live Aid appeal.
29 September – Pleasure trawler Taurima, owned by Charles Haughey, was wrecked near Mizen Head lighthouse.
11 October – Shop steward Karen Gearon, representing striking workers at Dunnes Stores, addressed the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid on a Day of Solidarity with South African Political Prisoners.[2]
25 October – The first commercial flight departed from the new Knock Airport.
^"Think we have it bad? Have a look at the mega thunderstorm which hit Ireland in 1985". Joe. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
^Statement by Ms. Karen Gearon, representative of strking workers at Dunnes Stores in Ireland before the meeting of the Special Committee against Apartheid on the Day of Solidarity with South African Political Prisoners Archived 13 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine African National Congress. Retrieved: 2013-12-09.
^Connolly, S. J., ed. (24 February 2011). The Oxford companion to Irish history (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 15. ISBN 9780199691869.
^ ab"Playography Ireland". Dublin: Irish Theatre Institute. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
^Gillespie, Elgy (14 June 1985). "Literature prize for Buncrana writer". The Irish Times.
^"Springsteen draws 100,000 in Ireland". Montreal Gazette. 3 June 1985.
^Marsh, Dave (2004). Bruce Springsteen – Two Hearts: The Definitive Biography, 1972-2003. New York: Routledge. p. 552. ISBN 0-415-96928X.
^"Strabane singer Ryan Dolan for Eurovision final". BBC News. 15 May 2013. Archived from the original on 11 June 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
^"Purcell, Noel | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 12 November 2022.