2004 in Ireland - Events

Events

• 1 January – Ireland takes over as President of the European Commission.
• 1 January – Scouting Ireland is founded.
• 28 February – Five people are killed in a bus crash at Wellington Quay, Dublin.
• 16 March – The cooling towers of Rhode Power Station, near Kilbeggan, County Westmeath, are demolished.
• 27 March – Ireland's rugby team wins the Triple Crown for the first time since 1985.
• 29 March – Ireland receives worldwide attention as a smoking ban comes into effect in all pubs, restaurants and work places, pioneered by Minister for Health, Micheál Martin.
• 1–25 May – Heads of government celebrate in Dublin as the European Union admits ten new member-states.
• 16 May– Several hundred children make their Confirmation.
• June – First phase of the Arklow Bank Wind Park, Ireland's first offshore wind farm, is commissioned.
• 16 June – The Grangegorman Development Bill is published by the Irish Government.
• 25 June – U.S. President George W. Bush arrives at Shannon Airport for an EU-U.S. summit.
• 30 June
  • Ireland is congratulated on its presidency of the European Commission: President of France Jacques Chirac says it is the best presidency ever.
  • Operations on the Luas "Green Line" in Dublin commence.
• 20 July – The Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, is appointed as Ireland's next European Commissioner.
• 7 August – Irish athlete Cathal Lombard is accused of taking performance enhancing drugs at the Olympic Games.
• 13 August – The Minister for Agriculture, Joe Walsh, announces his retirement from the Cabinet after seven years. He is the longest-serving Agriculture Minister in Europe.
• 27 August – Cian O'Connor wins a gold medal for Ireland at the Olympic Games in Athens.
• 8 September – Former Taoiseach John Bruton is appointed EU Ambassador to Washington.
• 14 September – Mary McAleese announces her intention to run for a second term as President of Ireland.
• 29 September – Mary Coughlan is appointed Ireland's first female Minister for Agriculture.
• 30 September
  • The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Ian Paisley, makes an historic first visit to Dublin for political talks with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
  • The Luas "Red Line" commences operation from Tallaght to Connolly Station.
• 1 October – As nominations for candidates close, Mary McAleese is re-elected unopposed for a second term as President of Ireland.
• 2 October – Ireland's second national television channel, N2, reverts to its original name of RTÉ Two.
• 5 October – The Irish Government issues British hostage Ken Bigley with an Irish passport in an effort to secure his release from his Iraqi capturers.
• 16 October – Taoiseach Bertie Ahern holds discussions with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Dublin.
• 19 October – Dublin-born aid worker Margaret Hassan is kidnapped in Iraq.
• 1 November – The International Equestrian Federation confirms that part of the B sample of Waterford Crystal, the horse ridden by Olympic showjumping gold medallist Cian O'Connor, has been stolen in England.
• 3 November – Fran Rooney resigns as Chief-Executive of the Football Association of Ireland.
• 9 November – Banned substances are confirmed in the B blood sample of Waterford Crystal, the horse ridden by Olympic showjumping gold medallist Cian O'Connor.
• 11 November – Mary McAleese is inaugurated for a second term as President of Ireland.
• 15 November – Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív, has a lucky escape when his ministerial car is involved in a head-on collision with another car in County Kerry.
• 16 November – Irish-born aid worker, Margaret Hassan, is murdered by her captors in Iraq.
• 22 November – Bertie Ahern celebrates 10 years as leader of the Fianna Fáil Party.
• 8 December – Negotiated proposals to restore the power-sharing institutions to Northern Ireland by March fail to reach finality. The main sticking point is a refusal by the Irish Republican Army to allow photographs be taken of arms decommissioning and a refusal by the Democratic Unionist Party's Ian Paisley to witness disarmament himself.
• 16 December – In Bogotá, Colombia the Penal Chamber of Bogotá's Supreme Tribunal hands down lengthy jail sentences to Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan for training Marxist rebels in Colombia.
• 18 December – The 'Colombia Three', Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan, are said to have fled the region where they were convicted of terrorist activities.
• 19 December – President McAleese convenes a meeting of the Council of State to discuss the Health Amendment II Bill, which was presented the previous week by the Health Minister Mary Harney.
• 21 December – £22 million is stolen in a heist from the Northern Bank in Belfast.
• 31 December – The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern pledges €10 million in aid to the people affected by the tsunami in South-East Asia.

Full date unknown

• The advanced paramedic programme is introduced into the ambulance service.