1997 in Ireland

Events

*January 8 - Russia seeks to widen its ban on the importation of Irish beef due to BSE.
*February 27 - The law providing for divorce comes into effect today.
*March 6 - Michael Lowry resigns as a member of the Fine Gael Party.
*March 7 - President Mary Robinson meets Pope John Paul II in the Vatican.
*March 17 - The new national independent radio station, Radio Ireland, goes on the air.
*April 8 - Author Frank McCourt is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his book "Angela's Ashes".
*June 12 - President Mary Robinson is appointed UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
*June 16 - National University of Ireland, Maynooth comes into existence with the commencement of the Universities Act, 1997.
*July 3 - An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, meets Prime Minister Tony Blair for the first time.
*July 6 - There is violence in nationalist areas after an Orange Order parade is allowed down the Garvaghy Road by the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Portadown.
*July 9 - Counsel for Charles Haughey admits that the former-Taoiseach accepted £1.3 million from businessman Ben Dunne.
*July 20 - The Irish Republican Army (IRA) institutes a second ceasefire.
*September 12 - Mary Robinson resigns as President of Ireland to take up a United Nations post.
*October 7 - Substantial "all-party" talks begin in Northern Ireland.
*November 1 - The Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal Act, 1997 takes effect] .
*November 7 - Dick Spring confirms that he is resigning as leader of the Labour Party.
*November 11 - Mary McAleese is inaugurated as the eighth President of Ireland.
*November 13 - Ruairí Quinn wins the leadership of the Labour Party.
*December 27 - The Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright is shot dead in the Maze prison by members of the Irish National Liberation Army.

Arts and literature

port

Gaelic games

*Kerry win the National Football League, beating Cork 3-7 to 1-8 in the final.
*Kerry go on to win the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship winners for the first time since 1986, following a 0-13 to 1-7 victory over Mayo in the final.
*Limerick beat [Galway GAA|Galway 1-12 to 1-9 in the National Hurling League final.
*Clare beat Tipperary by 0-20 to 2-13 in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final. It is their second title in three years.

Golf

*Murphy's Irish Open is won by Colin Montgomerie (Scotland).

nooker

*Ken Doherty becomes World Snooker champions following an 18 frames to 12 victory over Stephen Hendry at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield.

occer

*Shelbourne win the FAI Cup for the fifth time.
*The first ever League of Ireland match to be broadcast live on television was from Tolka Park between Shelbourne and Derry City on Network 2.

Births

Deaths

January to June

*31 January - John Joseph Scanlan, second Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu (b.1906).
*2 February - Seán Ó Síocháin, former Gaelic Athletic Association president.
*February - Reg Ryan, soccer player (b.1925).
*17 April - Chaim Herzog, sixth President of Israel (1983–1993) (b.1918).
*12 March - William Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel, peer and Labour politician (b.1906).
*2 May - Robin Kinahan, Unionist politician and businessman (b.1916).
*9 May - Thomas FitzGerald, Earl of Offaly (b.1974).
*23 May - Noel Browne, politician and former Cabinet Minister (b.1915).
*24 May - Edward Mulhare, actor (b.1923).
*16 June - Michael O'Herlihy, television director (b.1929).
*18 June - Julia Clifford, fiddle player and traditional musician (b.1914).

July to December

*25 September - Jim Kemmy, Irish Labour Party and Democratic Socialist Party TD (b.1936).
*20 December - Jim Gibbons, former Fianna Fáil TD, Member of the European Parliament and Cabinet Minister (b.1924).
*29 December - John Graham, Irish Republican Army activist in the 1940s (b.1915).

Full date unknown

*Mervyn Wall, novelist and dramatist (b.1908).