Saturday/Sunday
An eight-year-old girl who ran away from her attacker was caught and raped in Cork city. The incident happened between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the Gardiner's Hill-Dillon's Cross-St Luke's area of the city. i appealed for witnesses saying it was inconceivable that the man was not seen by passers-by chasing the fleeing child.
A Catholic man, Ciaran Heffron (22), was shot and killed in Crumlin, Co Antrim. A student at the University of Ulster, Mr Heffron was targeted while walking home from a village pub after a night out with friends. The Loyalist Volunteer Force was blamed for the attack and two men were detained and questioned by the RUC.
Loyalists were also blamed for the bombing of a bar in Armagh on Saturday night in which no one was injured. At the Easter Rising Commemoration in Arbour Hill, Dublin, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said the British government had been "effectively ruled out of the equation" on the future of Northern Ireland which now relied entirely on the principle of consent.
Monday
The Cayman Islands bank which controlled the Ansbacher accounts took legal action to evade having to disclose information to an investigation launched by the Tanaiste, Ms Harney.
The body of a man was recovered in Co Louth after being dumped, gardai believe, by a drugs gang with republican paramilitary connections in the area. The man was understood to have been suspected by the gang of giving the Garda National Drug Bureau information which led to significant seizures of amphetamines in recent months.
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, met the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, and the Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, in Downing Street. The meeting was described as constructive and Mr Adams declared his party's intention to "keep moving forward" in the search for permanent peace in Northern Ireland.
Gardai in Cork raised their investigation into the rape of the eight-year-old girl in the city to the status of a full murder inquiry. They said the perpetrator was thought to have been in his late teens or early 20s.
The late Fine Gael Minister, Hugh Coveney, died from drowning and not as the result of a fall, according to an inquest into his death.
Tuesday
The former governor of Hong Kong, Mr Chris Patten, confirmed he will chair the commission on policing to be set up if the Belfast Agreement is approved by referendum later this month. The main unionist and nationalist parties welcomed his acceptance.
An attempt by the Haughey family to prevent the Moriarty tribunal investigating their financial affairs failed in the High Court. Mr Justice Geoghegan said it was "bordering on the absurd" given the findings of the Dunnes tribunal for Mr Haughey to claim he was being discriminated against.
The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Desmond Connell, offered to meet each of those abused by the priest, Ivan Payne.
The Jefferson Smurfit Corporation confirmed it was talking to Stone Container about a merger which would create a $3.7 billion company.
It emerged that the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, authorised generous increases in allowances and expenses for Dail deputies.
Wednesday
A total of 151 files which may be of crucial relevance to the Moriarty Tribunal were reported missing from the Department of Finance. Some of the files related to currency exchange controls from 1954 to 1993. The tribunal is investigating the finances of former Taoiseach Mr Charles Haughey and former Fine Gael minister Mr Michael Lowry.
Triple Olympic swimming champion Michelle de Bruin, accompanied by her husband Erik, held a press conference to clear her name in the wake of fresh allegations that a drug test had been tampered with.
Convicted murderer and former IRA man turned informer Mr Sean O'Callaghan was arrested and held for questioning on a number of matters including the murder in Kerry in 1985 of an IRA activist, John Corcoran.
A senior Garda officer was appointed to investigate the circumstances which resulted in a Dublin man, Mr Dean Lyons (24), being wrongfully accused and placed in custody for the murders of two women in Grangegorman last year.
The IRA gave the Belfast Agreement a guarded welcome but warned there would be no decommissioning, saying that while the agreement fell short of a lasting settlement, it did mark "a significant development."
Thursday
Last-minute pleas from the Garda Commissioner failed to persuade 80 per cent of the force to drop their plans for a work stoppage. The Minister for Justice described rank-and-file gardai taking a day's sick leave as unjustified and unwarranted. The head of the International Olympic Committee's medical commission said he had been informed that Michelle de Bruin's urine sample had an alcohol level high enough to be "deadly."
The British Prime Minister told Sinn Fein the Belfast Agreement was not just a matter of decommissioning but "a whole package" and must be accepted as such.
In the wake of the overcharging scandal, National Irish Bank began discussions with several senior managers about the terms on which they would leave the bank.
Mr John Hume and Mr David Trimble were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for their role in the peace process.
A court in the Cayman Islands struck out the attempt by a resident bank to block an investigation by the Irish government into the Ansbacher deposits.