1998 in Ireland
| |||||
| Centuries: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decades: | |||||
| See also: | 1998 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1998 List of years in Ireland | ||||
Events from the year 1998 in Ireland.
Incumbents
- President: Mary McAleese
- Taoiseach: Bertie Ahern (FF)
- Tánaiste: Mary Harney (PD)
- Minister for Finance: Charlie McCreevy (FF)
- Chief Justice: Liam Hamilton
- Dáil: 28th
- Seanad: 21st
Events
- 1 January – the Vocational Education Committees of the towns of Bray, Drogheda, Sligo, Tralee and Wexford are abolished.
- 14 January – the Planning Tribunal opens in Dublin Castle.
- 27 February – Republic of Ireland qualifies for entry into the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union.
- 15 March – former Fine Gael Minister Hugh Coveney dies in a fall from a cliff in County Cork.
- 10 April (Good Friday) – The British and Irish governments and all the political parties in Northern Ireland (except the Democratic Unionists) sign the Belfast Agreement.
- 22 May – the Good Friday Agreement is endorsed in a referendum by people north and south of the border.
- 1 July – the new Northern Ireland Assembly first meets, in "shadow" form; Reg Empey and Seamus Mallon are elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively.
- 15 August – Omagh bombing: 29 people die in a car bomb explosion near the centre of Omagh, County Tyrone, accused by the Real Irish Republican Army.
- 4 September – Bill Clinton, President of the United States, begins his second official visit to the island of Ireland (his first being in 1995).
- 26 November – Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Oireachtas.[1]
- 30 November – unemployment falls by 20% with the number of people in work rising by 100,000.
- 12 December – members of the Labour Party and Democratic Left agree to merge.
- 26 December – great Boxing Day Storm ('Hurricane Stephen'): Severe gale-force winds hit north west Ireland causing henry disruption to services.
- 31 December – the Punt is traded for the last time as the Euro currency is launched.
Arts and literature
- 28 February – actor and comedian Dermot Morgan dies suddenly in London.
- 25 May – Patrick McCabe's novel Breakfast on Pluto is published.
- 3 July – the boyband Westlife are formed.
- 28 August – Maeve Binchy's novel Tara Road is published.
- 20 September – TV3 goes on the air.
- 7 October – Marina Carr's drama By the Bog of Cats opens at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.
- 24 December – Gay Byrne broadcasts his final radio show, from St Stephen's Green, Dublin.
- John Montague becomes the first occupant of the Ireland Chair of Poetry.
- Garry Hynes becomes the first woman to win a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play (The Beauty Queen of Leenane) on Broadway.
- Brendan Graham's Great Famine novel The Whitest Flower is published.
- Terence Dolan's A Dictionary of Hiberno-English: The Irish Use of English is published.
Sport
- Galway win the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, beating Kildare in the final.
Golf
- Murphy's Irish Open is won by David Carter (England).
Hurling
- Offaly win the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship for the second time in five years.
Olympics
- 6 August – Olympic gold medalist Michelle Smith is banned from competition for four years for tampering with a drug test.
Soccer
- St Patrick's Athletic won the League of Ireland
- Cork City FC won the FAI Cup
- Shelbourne's home UEFA Cup tie against Rangers is moved to England due to fears of sectarian trouble. Despite taking a 3–0 lead, Shels lose 3–5.
- 7 May – The Irish under-16 team wins the European Championship.
- 26 July - The Irish under-18 team wins the European Championship.
Births
- 17 March – Nathan O'Toole, actor
- 30 March – Galileo, racehorse
Deaths
- 26 January – Ernest Gébler, writer (b. 1914).
- 28 February – Dermot Morgan, actor and comedian (b. 1952).
- 15 March – Hugh Coveney, Fine Gael TD and Cabinet Minister, yachtsman (b. 1935).
- 17 April – Robin Lawler, soccer player (born 1925).
- 6 May – Sybil Connolly, fashion designer (b. 1921).
- 22 May – Jim Power, Galway hurler (b. 1894).
- 26 May – Kate Cruise O'Brien, writer (b. 1948).
- 23 June
- Paul O'Dwyer, lawyer and politician in the United States (b. 1907).
- Maureen O'Sullivan, actress (b. 1911).
- 26 July – Seán Ó hEinirí, fisherman, seanchaí and last known monolingual speaker of the Irish language (b. 1915).
- 13 August – Liam de Paor, historian and archaeologist (b. 1926).
- 20 September – Robert Malachy Burke, Christian Socialist and philanthropist (b. 1907).
- 10 October – Tommy Quaid, Limerick hurler (b. 1957).
- 11 November – Paddy Clancy, folk singer (b. 1922).
- 13 November – Valerie Hobson, actress (b. 1917).
- 21 November – John David Gwynn, cricketer (b. 1907).
- 26 December – Cathal Goulding, Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army and the Official IRA (b. 1923).
- Full date unknown – Patrick Hickey, visual artist (b. 1927).
See also
References
- ^ Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.