1998 in Ireland
See also: 1997 in Ireland, other events of 1998, 1999 in Ireland and the list of 'years in Ireland'.
| Contents |
Events
- January 1 - The VECs of the towns of Bray, Drogheda, Sligo, Tralee and Wexford are abolished.
- January 9 - British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mo Mowlam, visits loyalist prisoners in the Maze prison. Afterwards loyalists agree to attend the Stormont talks.
- January 14 - The Planning Tribunal opens in Dublin Castle.
- February 20 - Sinn Féin is excluded from the Northern Ireland talks for two weeks.
- February 27 - Ireland qualifies for entry into the European Monetary Union.
- February 28 - the actor and comedian Dermot Morgan dies suddenly in London.
- March 15 - Former Fine Gael Minister Hugh Coveney dies in a fall from a cliff in County Cork.
- April 10 - Good Friday: the British and Irish governments and all the political parties in the six counties (except the Democratic Unionist Party sign an historic peace agreement.
- May 7 - The Irish youth football under-16 team wins the European Championship.
- May 19 - John Hume and David Trimble join U2 on stage in Belfast as they make a direct appeal to young voters in the North to vote 'yes' in the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement.
- May 22 - The Good Friday Agreement is endorsed in a referendum by people north and south of the border.
- June 25 - The people of the six counties go to the polls to elect a new Assembly.
- August 6 - Olympic gold medalist Michelle de Bruin is banned from competition for four years for tampering with a drug test.
- August 15 - 29 people die in a bomb explosion near the centre of Omagh, County Tyrone, caused by the Real IRA.
- September 3 - President Clinton of the United States visits Omagh and views the bomb damage.
- September 20 - TV3 Ireland goes on the air.
- October 16 - John Hume and David Trimble are announced as the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.
- November 30 - Unemployment falls by 20% with the number of people in work rising by 100,000.
- December 10 - John Hume and David Trimble are presented with the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway.
- December 12 - Members of the Labour Party and Democratic Left agree to merge
- December 24 - Gay Byrne broadcasts his final radio show from St. Stephen's Green.
- December 31 - The Irish Punt is traded for the last time as the Euro currency is launched.
Arts and literature
Sports
Births
Deaths
- February 28 - Dermot Morgan, comedian.
- June 23 - Maureen O'Sullivan, actress.
- August - Liam de Paor, historian.
- November 11 - Paddy Clancy, folk singer.