Saturday/Sunday
The Government announced £2 million in aid for refugees fleeing Kosovo. The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, said he would seek Cabinet approval to admit 1,000 of the refugees.
A new study showed "disturbing evidence of underachievement by a relatively large body of students" in both Junior and Leaving Certificate exams.
In his Easter Sunday address the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, praised the IRA's "commitment" to searching for a peaceful settlement. He said the Hillsborough Declaration of the previous week "may have merit, but it may also be counterproductive if it amounts to an ultimatum to armed groups."
The Corrs became the first Irish band to hold both the No 1 and No 2 places simultaneously in the British album charts.
Monday
There was controversy over the Government's plan to relocate Kosovan refugees in Ireland, with the Catholic aid agency Trocaire describing it as "an ill-conceived and emotional response to a deep-seated political problem."
Department of Education officials were told by the Department of Justice immigration section that asylum-seekers should not have access to education, The Irish Times revealed.
Bank holiday motorists returning home caused three-hour delays on the main Cork-Dublin road through Co Kildare, where the Kyle Bridge was being repaired. Four people died in weekend road collisions.
Dublin Corporation confirmed that the Millennium Footbridge across the Liffey is to cost £1.5 million, twice as much as expected.
Ulsterman Richard Dunwoody notched up his 1,979th winner, more than any other National Hunt jockey.
Tuesday
Record first-quarter Exchequer returns were reported, with the Government taking in £287 million more than it spent in the first three months of the year.
An Exchequer surplus of well above £1 billion is expected this year.
Pay headed the agenda at the annual teachers' union meetings. However, plans for a joint pay campaign by the unions received a setback when the annual conference of the Teachers' Union of Ireland voted against productivity talks.
Mr Justice O'Flaherty of the Supreme Court made "a full statement" of his position to the Chief Justice on the case of Philip Sheedy, the architect freed from prison after serving just one year of a four-year term for dangerous driving causing death.
Cement Roadstone Holdings appointed Mr Liam O'Mahony as group chief executive-designate to succeed Mr Don Godson, who retires next January.
Scaffolders met to organise "flying pickets" to ensure no scaffolding work was carried out on Dublin building sites during a dispute over pay.
Wednesday
New figures from the Central Statistics Office showed the seasonally-adjusted rate of unemployment had fallen by 3,000 to 201,600, the lowest since October 1983.
The Minister of State for Education, Mr Willie O'Dea, told teachers that they will not have to face British-style "league tables" for measuring school performance.
Anti-abortion protesters kicked, punched and struck gardai with placards during a demonstration outside a Dublin hospital last year, the Dublin District Court heard.
Ten Youth Defence members were facing charges including assault, disorderly behaviour and obstruction.
Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, said the Provisional IRA would not accept decommissioning as a precondition to his party's entry into a power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland.
It was revealed that USA Today had withdrawn adoption advertisements from its Irish editions following a complaint by the Adoption Board.
Thursday
The Government published the Attorney General's advice to the effect that a referendum was not needed to allow Ireland to join the NATO-sponsored Partnership for Peace. The Taoiseach confirmed a referendum would not be held and claimed there was no connection between PFP and NATO.
The Irish Penal Reform Trust criticised the limited availability of treatment for sex offenders. In a report, it said treatment should be more widely available if society was to be given greater protection from sex crimes.
A Galway footballer was jailed for nine months after the GAA failed to come up with compensation for a player he struck and seriously injured during a junior club match. The case had been adjourned for four months to see if the GAA could provide compensation for the injured player, who sustained a serious brain injury.
Shares in auctioneers Sherry FitzGerald rose by 16 per cent in their first day of trading on the Irish and London Stock Exchanges.
Loyalists in Portadown, Co Armagh, said they intend to mount a "Harryville-style" picket on the St John the Baptist Church at the top of the town's Garvaghy Road.
