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Events from the year 1996 in Ireland.

Incumbents

  • President: Mary Robinson
  • Taoiseach: John Bruton (FG)
  • Tánaiste: Dick Spring (Lab)
  • Minister for Finance: Ruairi Quinn (Lab)
  • Chief Justice: Liam Hamilton
  • Dáil: 27th
  • Seanad: 20th

Events

January

  • 24 January – The international body proposed six principles of democracy and non-violence ('the Mitchell principles') as conditions for entry to all-party talks in Northern Ireland.
  • January (full date unknown) – The Israeli embassy to Ireland opened.

February

  • 5 February – The Football Association of Ireland appointed Mick McCarthy as manager of the Irish football team.
  • 9 February – A large Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) bomb exploded in the London Docklands area, near Canary Wharf, injuring around forty, and marking the end of a 17-month IRA ceasefire.

March

  • 11 March – The Hepatitis Tribunal opened in Dublin.

June

  • 7 June – Detective Garda Jerry McCabe was shot dead by the PIRA in Adare, County Limerick.
  • 17 June – The Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland was signed into law, repealing the absolute constitutional prohibition of divorce.
  • 26 June – Crime reporter Veronica Guerin was shot dead in her car in Dublin.

August

  • 4 August – The Proceeds of Crime Act, 1996 was signed into law providing for the seizure of the suspected proceeds of organised criminal activity.

September

  • 11 September – A new £100 note depicting Charles Stewart Parnell was issued, with a red-and-brown front and a green-and-yellow back, to replace the 68-year-old £100 note.
  • 25 September – The last Magdalene asylum closed, in Waterford.

October

  • 11 October – The Criminal Assets Bureau Act, 1996 was signed into law providing for the creation of the Criminal Assets Bureau.
  • Undated
  • Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud was the first in Dublin to be awarded two Michelin stars.

Arts and literature

  • 1 February – Martin McDonagh's black comedy The Beauty Queen of Leenane was premiered by the Druid Theatre Company in Galway.
  • 11 February – The television drama series Ballykissangel first aired. It was made by BBC Northern Ireland and set in a rural Irish community.
  • 18 May – Ireland won the Eurovision Song Contest for the seventh time with The Voice, sung by Eimear Quinn and composed by Brendan Graham.
  • 7 August – Marie Jones' play Stones in His Pockets was premiered in Belfast.
  • 26 September – Enda Walsh's play Disco Pigs was premiered by the Corcadorca Theatre Company at the Triskel Arts Centre in Cork.
  • 31 October – Ireland's first Irish language television station, Teilifís na Gaeilge (TnaG), was launched. On 3 November the soap opera Ros na Rún was first aired on the channel.
  • 6 November – The film Michael Collins was shown in Cork and Dublin.
  • The following novels were published:
  • Evening Class by Maeve Binchy.
  • Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane.
  • Headbanger by Hugo Hamilton.
  • Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married by Marian Keyes.
  • The Story of the Night by Colm Tóibín.

Sport

Association football

  • St Patrick's Athletic won the League of Ireland.
  • Shelbourne won the FAI Cup.

Boxing

  • 9 March – Steve Collins, "The Celtic Warrior", successfully defended his World Boxing Organization super middleweight title against Neville Brown at the Green Glens Arena, Millstreet, County Cork.

Gaelic football

  • Meath beat Mayo in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final, after a replay, to win their first title since 1988.

Golf

  • Murphy's Irish Open was won by Colin Montgomerie (Scotland).

Hurling

  • Wexford beat Limerick in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final. It was their first senior All-Ireland since 1968.

Summer Olympics

  • Swimmer Michelle Smith won three gold medals and one bronze in the Atlanta Olympics.

Births

  • 3 January – Cian Lynch, hurler (Patrickswell, Limerick)
  • 24 January – Seán Finn, hurler (Bruff, Limerick)
  • 26 January – Gary Cully, boxer
  • 2 February – Paul Mescal, actor
  • 5 May – Mark McKenna, actor and musician
  • 29 May – Tom Morrissey, hurler (Ahane, Limerick)
  • 13 June – Ruth Codd, actress
  • 23 October – Lyra Valkyria, professional wrestler
  • 28 October – Una Raymond-Hoey, cricketer
  • 16 November – Brendan Murray, singer
  • 6 December – Ann Skelly, actress
  • 31 December – Barry Nash, hurler (South Liberties, Limerick)

Deaths

  • 8 January – Joyce McCartan, community activist.
  • 12 February – James Camlin Beckett, historian.
  • 18 February – Cathal Ó Sándair, writer (born 1922).
  • 9 March – Ollie Walsh, Kilkenny hurler (born 1937).
  • 5 April – Gerry L'Estrange, member of the Seanad, Fine Gael TD.
  • 22 April – Molly Keane, novelist and playwright (born 1904).
  • 24 April – Tomás de Bhaldraithe, Irish language scholar and lexicographer (born 1916).
  • 9 June – Patrick Flynn, Liberal Party of Canada MP (born 1921).
  • 10 June – Peter Raftery, diplomat.
  • 26 June – Veronica Guerin, journalist, murdered by drug dealers (born 1958).
  • 9 July – Christopher Casson, actor (born 1912).
  • 16 July – Joe Dunn, Jacob's Award-winning documentarian for the Radharc television programme, broadcasting educator, publisher, author (born 1930).
  • 6 August – Havelock Nelson, composer and pianist (born 1917).
  • 18 August – Charles Mitchel, actor and television newsreader, read the first Telefís Éireann news bulletin in 1961 (born 1920).
  • 25 August – Erskine Barton Childers, diplomat writer and broadcaster, son of President Childers (born 1929).
  • August – Kathleen Mills, camogie player (born 1923).
  • 11 November – Liam Naughten, Fine Gael politician, Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann from 1995 until his death. (born 1944).
  • 24 November – Michael O'Hehir, sports commentator and journalist (born 1920).

Full date unknown

  • Seán 'ac Dhonncha, traditional singer (born 1919).

See also

  • 1996 in Irish television

References