2006 in Ireland - Events

Events

• January - A Gorey Town Councillor is targeted by a vicious hate campaign which outs him in a local newspaper.
• 9 January – Steve Staunton is appointed the new manager of the Republic of Ireland football team, to be mentored by Bobby Robson as International Football Consultantant.
• 17 January – The GAA, FAI and IRFU announce that a deal has been reached which will allow soccer and rugby to be played in Croke Park.
• 30 January – Postal workers enter a 20 day wildcat strike disrupting most of Belfast's delivery service
• 14 February – The 25th Anniversary of the Stardust Disaster, in which 48 young people died, is remembered by the families of the survivors.
• 25 February – Rioting in Dublin as Republican protestors condemn the right for a "Love Ulster" (Unionist) parade in the city.
• 11 March – The last ever competitive rugby international takes place at the oldest rugby venue in the world, Lansdowne Road, after 128 years of use, before the ground is redeveloped.
• 17 March – Over 400,000 people take to the streets of Dublin to celebrate St. Patrick's Day as part of the world's largest St. Patrick's Day Festival.
• 16 April – Up to 120,000 people line the streets of Dublin to mark the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising.
• 23 April – The 2006 census takes place in the Republic of Ireland.
• 26 April – Prince Philip of the United Kingdom meets President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on a visit to Dublin.
• 14 May – Fianna Fáil celebrates its 80th anniversary with a day of celebrations at the Mansion House, Dublin.
• 15 May The members of the Northern Ireland Assembly are recalled 3½ years after the assembly was suspended, with a view to electing an executive, and havingthe suspension lifted
• 21 May – Armed Gardaí forcibly remove thirty Afghan refugees who had sought sanctuary in St. Patrick's cathedral, Dublin after a one week hunger-strike
• 22 May – Belfast City airport is renamed George Best Belfast City Airport on what would have been George Best's 60th birthday.
• 24 May – Prime Minister of Australia John Howard formally addresses Dáil Éireann.
• 16 June – The state funeral of the former Taoiseach Charles Haughey takes place in Dublin.
• 18 June – Irish Government announces plans to spend €3.8 billion on scientific research over 7 years to grow world-class research capabilities.
• 1 July – President Mary McAleese and leading representatives of all political parties in Ireland, north and south, mark the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme at the Irish National War Memorial Gardens, Dublin
• 7 July – Dublin Airport is evacuated for the second time in a week when an abandoned suspect package is found.
• 19 July – The warmest temperature this century (and since 1976) is recorded at Elphin, County Roscommon – 32.3°C (88.7°F). Ireland is one of many countries affected by the 2006 European heat wave. July 2006 is the warmest, on average, since records began in both the Republic and Northern Ireland.
• 19 July – CSO preliminary 2006 census findings indicate that the population of the Republic of Ireland is 4,234,925 million, an increase of 8.6% since 2002 and at its highest since the 1861 census. The total population for the island now stands at just under 6 million (estimates).
• 1 September – 150th anniversary of the birth of John Redmond, Leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
• 7 September – Mary Harney resigns as leader of the Progressive Democrats. She has led the party since October 1993.
• 11 September – Michael McDowell becomes, by consensus, leader of the Progressive Democrats
• 18 October – Northern Ireland overtake the Republic of Ireland in the Fifa rankings for the first time.
• 24 November – Loyalist Michael Stone, attempts to bomb the NI Assembly on the day nominations for first and deputy first minister are due to be made.
• 20 December – Dublin Port Tunnel officially opened.