Politics
- 1 January – Ireland takes over from Italy as President of the European Council.
- European Parliament Election 2004 – Fine Gael emerge as the largest party eclipsing Fianna Fáil by one seat. Two Independent MEPs are elected. The Labour Party wins one seat and Sinn Féin takes a seat for the first time ever.
- Local Elections, 2004 – Fianna Fáil's share of the vote falls sharply while all the other opposition parties make gains. Sinn Féin make a huge breakthrough with a record number of councillors being elected.
- Cabinet Reshuffle – Michael Smith, Joe Walsh and Charlie McCreevy retire from the government. The big winners are Brian Cowen who becomes Minister for Finance and Dermot Ahern who becomes Minister for Foreign Affairs. Mary Hanafin, Dick Roche and Willie O'Dea join the Cabinet table for the first time. Séamus Brennan is assigned to the position of Minister for Social and Family Affairs. Mary Coughlan becomes Ireland's first female Minister for Agriculture and Food.
Read more about this topic: 2004 In Ireland
Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)
“I played by the rules of politics as I found them.”
—Richard M. Nixon (1913–1995)
“All you can be sure about in a political-minded writer is that if his work should last you will have to skip the politics when you read it. Many of the so-called politically enlisted writers change their politics frequently.... Perhaps it can be respected as a form of the pursuit of happiness.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
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