1998 in Ireland

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Decades: 1970s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s • 2010s Centuries: 18th • 19th • 20th • 21st See also: 1998 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1998 List of years in Ireland

Events

• 1 January – The VECs 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 the Northern Ireland (except the Democratic Unionist Party sign the Belfast Agreement.
• 22 May – The Good Friday Agreement is endorsed in a referendum by people north and south of the border.
• 3 July – The boyband Westlife are formed.
• 15 August – 29 people die in a bomb explosion near the centre of Omagh, County Tyrone, caused by the Real IRA.
• 4 September – USA President Bill Clinton begins his second official visit to the Island of Ireland, his first was in 1995.
• 20 September – TV3 goes on the air.
• 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 widespread 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.
• 24 December – Gay Byrne broadcasts his final radio show, from St Stephen's Green.
• Maeve Binchy's novel Tara Road is published.
• Patrick McCabe's novel The Butcher Boy is published.

Sport

Gaelic football

• Galway GAA win the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, beating Kildare GAA in the final.

Golf

• Murphy's Irish Open is won by David Carter (England).

Hurling

• Offaly GAA 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.

Births

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Deaths

• 28 February – Dermot Morgan, actor and comedian (b.1952).
• 15 March – Hugh Coveney, Fine Gael TD and Cabinet Minister, yachtsman (b.1935).
• 23 June – Maureen O'Sullivan, actress (b.1911).
• 6 May – Sybil Connolly, fashion designer (b.1921).
• 22 May – Jim Power, former Galway hurler (b.1894).
• 26 May – Kate Cruise O'Brien, writer (b.1948).
• 13 August – Liam de Paor, historian, archaeologist, (b.1926, in Dublin, Ireland).
• 20 September – Robert Malachy Burke, Christian Socialist and philanthropist (b.1907).
• 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

• Paul O'Dwyer, lawyer and politician in the United States (b.1907).
• Tommy Quaid, Limerick hurler (b.1957).

References