January • 1 January – • The
Health Service Executive was established along with the
HSE National Ambulance Service. •
Cork officially became the
European Capital of Culture for 2005. Ireland celebrated the
Hamilton year of physics. • Littlepace housing estate in
Clonee, County Meath was struck by a small tornado. • 4 January – Eleven-year-old Robert Holohan went missing from his East Cork home, prompting a nationwide search. His body was found eight days later. • 6 January – The
Irish Farmers Association celebrated its 50th anniversary. • 8 January –
Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Dermot Ahern, visited the area of South-East Asia devastated by the recent
tsunami. • 18 January – Taoiseach Bertie Ahern began a trade mission to China, accompanied by one third of the Cabinet including
Micheál Martin,
Mary Hanafin,
Mary Coughlan and
Noel Dempsey. • 20 January – Ireland changed all road signage and regulations to use kilometres per hour (km/h). Distance and speed in Northern Ireland remained in miles per hour. • 24 January – Former
Minister for Justice Ray Burke was jailed for six months for tax evasion, as a result of legislation he introduced. He was the first cabinet minister to be jailed as a result of a tribunal of inquiry.
February • 7 February – Taoiseach Bertie Ahern laid the foundation stone of a new town called
Adamstown, just outside
Lucan,
County Dublin. • 17 February – Seven people were detained by the
Garda Síochána for suspected activities in relation to a bank heist in
Belfast in December 2004. £2.3 million sterling was seized in
County Cork.
March • 4 March – The 100th
Sinn Féin ardfheis (annual party conference) opened at the
Royal Dublin Society in
Ballsbridge,
Dublin. • 11 March – The
Irish Sugar Company factory in
Carlow closed with the loss of several hundred jobs. It was Ireland's oldest sugar factory. • 27 March –
Cian O'Connor was stripped of his Olympic gold medal after the sports ruling body find that his horse,
Waterford Crystal, had banned substances in its system during the Olympic Games in 2004.
April • 4 April – The
Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Dermot Ahern, was appointed as one of four special envoys for United Nations reform by the UN Secretary General,
Kofi Annan. • 8 April – President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern represented Ireland at the funeral of
Pope John Paul II in Rome. A remembrance service was held at the papal cross in the
Phoenix Park, Dublin. • 16 April – The annual congress of the
Gaelic Athletic Association voted to allow association football and rugby to be played in
Croke Park under certain circumstances.
May • 23 May – Five schoolgirls died and many people were injured in a collision between a school bus and two other vehicles in
County Meath.
June • 13 June – The
Irish language was granted official status as a working language within the
European Union. • 30 June – The
M50 motorway was finally completed, 34 years after the route was first envisaged and 17 years after construction began.
July • 7 July – The Taoiseach met
Pope Benedict XVI for a private audience in Rome. • 16 July – Irish student,
Tara Whelan (17), and a British holidaymaker were among five people killed in the
Kuşadası minibus bombing in Turkey. • 18 July – Tallaght Rehabilitation Project, a drug and alcohol addiction rehabilitation programme in the wider
Tallaght area, began using
Kiltalown House,
Jobstown as their headquarters. • 28 July – The
Provisional Irish Republican Army made history by ending its armed campaign and ordering all its units to dump arms. The organisation also ordered its members not to engage in any other activities. • 29 July – Forty-five-year-old
Limerick woman, Dolores McNamara, won €115 million in the
EuroMillions rollover jackpot prize. It was Europe's largest ever lottery jackpot.
September • 7 September –
Ireland lost 1–0 to
France in a crucial football World Cup qualifying match. • 15 September – Ireland reached its highest population since 1861. The increase consisted of the return of Irish people living abroad, and immigrants from Europe and Asia. • 19 September –
Irish Ferries offered voluntary redundancy packages to its 543 seafaring workers. • 26 September – The head of the
Independent International Commission on Decommissioning,
General John de Chastelain, said that he is satisfied that the
Irish Republican Army has completed the decommissioning of its entire arsenal of weapons.
October • 14 October –
Roy Keane announced his retirement from international football following Ireland's failure to qualify for
World Cup 2006 in Germany. • 18 October –
Tiede Herrema returned to the city of
Limerick from which he was kidnapped 30 years ago in a high-profile case. Herrema presented his personal papers relating to the event to the
University of Limerick Library. • 20 October – The abducted journalist
Rory Carroll was released unharmed after being kidnapped in Iraq the previous day. • 25 October – The
Ferns Report was published, detailing the investigation into clerical sex abuse in the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Ferns.
November • 1 November – The
Government launched
Transport 21, the biggest transport plan in the history of the state. It will allow €34.4 million to be spent on roads, rail, and the Dublin metropolitan area over a ten-year period. • 18 November – •
Cork City Football Club won the
League of Ireland for the second time in its history. •
Roy Keane left
Manchester United football club in a decision that was said to be by mutual consent.
December • 6 December – Irishman
Terry Wogan received a
knighthood from
Elizabeth II in recognition of his services to broadcasting. • 8 December – President McAleese met Elizabeth II at
Hillsborough Castle, County Down, the first time they met in Ireland. ==Arts and literature==