16 February – An Irish Premiership match between Crusaders and Cliftonville was called off on security advice following a Union flag demonstration outside the ground.[1]
23 February – Ryan Dolan from Strabane, County Tyrone, was announced as Ireland's entry for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest.[2]
c. February – The last workingIrish linenfactory in Belfast closed.[3]
17 April – TheDalai LamaTenzin Gyatso,as patron of the charity Children in Crossfire, began a two-day visit toDerrywhere he was guest of honour at a Culture of Compassion event. He last visited the city in July 2007.[5][6][7]
25 October – Twoletter bombs,one addressed to the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland,Matt Baggott,and another to a senior police officer, were defused by bomb disposal experts at postal sorting offices in Mallusk andLisburnin County Antrim.[12]
28 October – A letter bomb delivered to the offices of thePublic Prosecution Serviceat Foyle Chambers on Limavady Road inDerrywas made safe and taken for forensic examination.[13]
29 October – A letter bomb was sent to Northern Ireland secretaryTheresa Villiers.Bomb disposal officers were called toStormont Castleto deal with it. Villiers was in London at the time.[14]
15 November – MusicianVan Morrisonwas awarded the freedom of Belfast.[15]
20 November – A bus driver inDerrywas ordered by suspectedIRA militantsto deliver a bomb to police headquarters, a frequent IRA target. She agreed, but parked the bus and called police, who removed the bomb.[16]
24 November – A man was stopped in theArdoynearea of Belfast by three masked men and forced to drive a bomb to Victoria Square shopping centre in the city centre. The detonator ignited while bomb disposal experts prepared to examine the car but it failed to trigger an explosion.[17]
27 November – Liam Adams, the brother of Sinn Féin leaderGerry Adams,was sentenced to sixteen years in prison by Laganside Crown Court in Belfast for sexually abusing his daughter Áine.[18]
13 December – An explosion occurred in the Cathedral Quarter of Belfast when extremists opposed to the peace in Northern Ireland left a sports bag containing an explosive on the pavement. Christmas revellers evacuated nearby bars and restaurants.Óglaigh na hÉireannclaimed responsibility[20][21]
16 December – The army defused a pipe bomb found in the garden of a house in West Belfast. Later, a fire bomb being carried by an extremist ignited in a shop in the Cornmarket shopping district in Belfast, setting the bomber on fire. He fled through the streets in flames, while the device was taken outside by a member of the shop's staff.[20][22]A man was arrested five days later.[23]
31 December – The six-monthHaassnegotiations concluded without resolving inter-community conflict overflags,parades,and the history ofThe Troubles.[25][26]
