SATURDAY/SUNDAY
AN off duty RUC officer, Const Greg Taylor (41), was killed outside a pub in Ballymoney, Co Antrim. Earlier, Const Taylor had been jeered by about 100 people including members of a loyalist flute band over the RUC ban on Orange marches through the Catholic village of Dunloy.
A statement from the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, said British policy during the Famine had failed the people of Ireland. The statement, which did not contain a formal apology, was read at a Famine commemoration in Millstreet, Co Cork.
The Taoiseach warned he would not permit further meetings between Government officials and Sinn Fein following the discovery of a landmine in west Belfast on Saturday.
MONDAY
In the first of the televised election debates between party leaders, the PD leader, Mary Harney, criticised the Labour record on tax, and the Labour leader, Dick Spring, attacked the Progressive Democrats for their policy of cutting 25,000 public service jobs.
The Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, said he would not seek Sinn Fein support for the formation of a new government because it would send the wrong signal to unionists.
The family of a Co Donegal woman who died from hepatitis C called for guidelines to be issued after several undertakers had refused to embalm the woman's body for fear of contamination.
The Presbyterian Moderator, the Rev Dr Samuel Hutchinson, said decent people were "becoming sick of the whole sad spectacle" of parades and called on politicians to persevere with the Stormont talks.
TUESDAY
The Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, told the opening session of multiparty talks that she wanted the issue of decommissioning paramilitary arms resolved "within weeks".
In an eleventh hour move, Fianna Fail secured the agreement of the PDs to dump its policy for 25,000 "voluntary" job losses in the public sector.
A new study found that an estimated one in five homes in Sligo, Wexford and Carlow exceeds safety limits for the radioactive gas, radon. The report by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland revealed levels at almost eight times the safe maximum.
Roisin McAliskey was transferred to a psychiatric hospital suffering from postnatal depression after being granted conditional bail at the High Court in London. Ms McAliskey is awaiting extradition proceedings in connection with an IRA mortar attack.
The pound hit its lowest level against sterling in almost six years, amid uncertainty surrounding the ability of France and Germany to qualify for EMU. Irish economists warned of an increase in interest rates if inflation rises.
WEDNESDAY
The Taoiseach, John Bruton, was judged to have won a television debate with Bertie Ahern. Earlier, Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats were accused of a return to 1977 auction politics after they issued a joint statement making three new promises on taxation.
A Dublin man was in a "critical condition" after being shot by armed gardai in the city. Mr John Morris (26) was shot in the head and stomach when armed detectives foiled a raid at the Goldenbridge Industrial Estate in Inchicore.
Nationalists on the Garvaghy Road welcomed a letter from the Orange Order sent to residents as a "sincere and genuine attempt" to resolve the dispute over the Drumcree march. However, they insisted there could be no hope of movement until Orangemen met them directly.
Fifteen Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) inmates began a hunger strike in protest at conditions in the Maze prison. The LVF group is being led by the dissident Portadown loyalist, Billy Wright.
THURSDAY
Political leaders urged the Republic's 2.7 million eligible voters to turn out in large numbers for Friday's election.
The armed robber shot by gardai in Dublin on Wednesday died in hospital. The Irish National Liberation Army claimed Mr Morris was one of its members.
British Nuclear Fuels' latest figures indicated that the level of radioactivity in lobsters off the west Cumbrian coast has risen to unprecedented levels. The Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland expressed concern at the levels, saying they were due to increased Technetium discharges from Sellafield.
A report found that complaints to the Ombudsman's office last year rose by 10.5 per cent.
The Republic was awarded its highest ever number of European Blue Flags for beaches this year. Seventy Blue Flags were awarded to beaches and three to marinas. However, eight beaches in the Dublin area failed to achieve the standards.
