2006 in Ireland

Incumbents

• President: Mary McAleese
• Taoiseach: Bertie Ahern
• Tánaiste:
• * Mary Harney
• * Michael McDowell
• Minister for Finance: Brian Cowen
• Chief Justice: John L. Murray
• Dáil: 29th
• Seanad: 22nd

  Events

• January – A gay town councillor in Gorey, County Wexford, Malcolm Byrne, was the object of a vicious hate campaign which outed him in a local newspaper.
• 9 January – Steve Staunton was appointed the new manager of the Ireland football team, to be mentored by Bobby Robson as International Football Consultantant.
• 17 January – The Gaelic Athletic Association, Football Association of Ireland and Irish Rugby Football Union announced that a deal had been reached which would allow association football and rugby to be played in Croke Park in Dublin.
• 25 February – Rioting occurred in Dublin as Republican protestors condemned the right for a "Love Ulster" parade in the city.
• 11 March – The last competitive rugby international took place at the oldest rugby venue in the world, Lansdowne Road, after 128 years of use, before the ground was redeveloped.
• 17 March – Over 400,000 people took to the streets of Dublin to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day as part of the world's largest Saint Patrick's Day Festival.
• 16 April – Up to 120,000 people lined the streets of Dublin to mark the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising.
• 23 April – The 2006 census took place in Ireland.
• 26 April – Prince Philip of the United Kingdom met President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on a visit to Dublin.
• 21 May – Armed Gardaí forcibly removed 30 Afghan refugees who had sought sanctuary in Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin after a one-week hunger-strike
• 24 May – Prime Minister of Australia John Howard formally addressed Dáil Éireann.
• 16 June – The state funeral of the former Taoiseach Charles Haughey took place in Dublin.
• 18 June – The Government announced plans to spend €3.8 billion on scientific research over seven years to grow world-class research capabilities.
• 1 July – President Mary McAleese and leading representatives of all political parties in Ireland, north and south, marked the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme at the Irish National War Memorial Gardens, Dublin.
• 7 July – Dublin Airport was evacuated for the second time in a week when an abandoned suspect package was found.
• 19 July – The warmest temperature since 1976, 32.3 °C, was recorded at Elphin, County Roscommon. Ireland was one of many countries affected by the 2006 European heat wave. July 2006 was the warmest, on average, since records began in both the Republic and Northern Ireland.
• 19 July – Preliminary 2006 census findings indicated that the population was 4,234,925 million, an increase of 8.6% since 2002 and at its highest since the 1861 census. The total population for the island now stands at just under 6 million.
• 7 September – Mary Harney resigned as leader of the Progressive Democrats. She led the party since October 1993.
• 11 September – Michael McDowell became leader of the Progressive Democrats by consensus.
• 18 October – Northern Ireland overtook the Republic of Ireland in the FIFA rankings for the first time.
• 14 December – The Zappone v. Revenue Commissioners legal case was decided in the High Court: a same-sex marriage in British Columbia was not recognised as a same-sex marriage in Ireland.
• 20 December – Dublin Port Tunnel officially opened, for heavy goods vehicles only. General traffic was admitted the following 28 January.

  Arts and literature

• 5 January – The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, a young people's novel by John Boyne, was published.
• 2 March – Ireland: Awakening, a historical novel by Edward Rutherfurd, was published.
• June – Ciaran Creagh's play Last Call, based loosely on the hanging of murderer Michael Manning in 1954 as witnessed by the playwright's father, was staged in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, where it is set.
• 13 June – Colm Tóibín's novel The Master won the International Dublin Literary Award. He was the first Irish writer to win. His short story collection Mothers and Sons was published this year.
• 26 July – 150th anniversary of the birth of George Bernard Shaw.
• Autumn – Irish language teen drama series Aifric debuted on TG4 television.
• John Banville published his first crime novel under the pen name Benjamin Black, Christine Falls.
• Brian O'Loughlin's sculpture Passage was installed at Pass of Kilbride on the M6 motorway in County Westmeath.

  Music

Sport

Association football

• Setanta Cup
• *Winners: Drogheda United
• League of Ireland
• *Winners: Shelbourne
• FAI Cup
• *Winners: Derry City

  Athletics

• Ireland's Derval O'Rourke won the women's 60m hurdles at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships, setting a new national record in the event, and becoming the first Irish woman to win an international senior sprint medal at this level.

  Gaelic games

Golf

• Europe won the 2006 Ryder Cup, held in Kildare Golf and Country Club, Straffan, Co. Kildare from 22 to 24 September.
• Nissan Irish Open was won by Thomas Bjørn.

  Mountaineering

• Ian McKeever climbed 26 peaks of the island of Ireland in 98 hours.

  Olympic Games

• Ireland sent four athletes to the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

  Rugby union

• RBS Six Nations Championship
• *Ireland 26–16 Italy
• * France 43–31 Ireland
• *Ireland 31–5 Wales
• *Ireland 15–9 Scotland
• *England 24–28 Ireland

• 2005–06 Heineken Cup
• *Munster and Leinster both progressed from the group stages. They played each other in the semi-finals, with Munster claiming victory. Munster then won the championship, defeating Biarritz 23 – 19

  Deaths

• 4 April – Denis Donaldson, former member of Sinn Féin who was exposed in 2005 as an MI5 spy.
• 4 April – John de Courcy Ireland, maritime historian and political activist.
• 25 April – John Kerr, singer.
• 11 May – Michael O'Leary, former Tánaiste and Labour Party leader.
• 13 May – Desmond Surfleet, cricketer.
• 16 May – Clare Boylan, author, journalist and critic.
• 18 May – Michael O'Riordan, veteran of the Spanish Civil War and founder of the Communist Party of Ireland.
• 26 May – Kevin O'Flanagan, physician, rugby and soccer player and Olympic official.
• 19 May – Shay Gibbons, former international soccer player.
• 10 June – Bobby Miller, Gaelic footballer and manager.
• 13 June – Charles Haughey, former Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil.
• 18 June – Luke Belton, former Fine Gael TD.
• 20 June – Michael Herbert, former Fianna Fáil TD and MEP.
• 21 June – Denis Faul, monsignor, Northern Ireland civil rights activist, chaplain to prisoners in Maze Prison during 1981 Irish Hunger Strike.
• 30 June – Dave P. Tyndall, Jr., businessman.

• 5 July – Lewis Glucksman, businessman, philanthropist, patron of the Lewis Glucksman Gallery at UCC.
• 7 July – Mícheál Ó Domhnaill, folk and traditional musician.
• 8 July – Michael Barrett, former Fianna Fáil TD.
• 12 July – Noel Sheridan, 70, actor, artist, Director National College of Art and Design.
• 12 July – Joe Langan, 63, former Mayo Gaelic footballer.
• 23 July – Vere Wynne-Jones, 56, RTÉ broadcaster.
• 28 July – Billy Walsh, soccer player and manager.
• 14 August – John Godley, 3rd Baron Kilbracken, author and journalist.
• 17 August – Ken Goodall, international rugby player.
• 14 September – Seán Ó Tuama, 80, writer and academic.
• 18 September – Seán Clancy, veteran of the Irish War of Independence.
• 20 September – Tommy Traynor, soccer player.
• September – Mick Haughney, Laois Gaelic footballer.

• 2 October – Thomas J. Fitzpatrick, former Ceann Comhairle and Fine Gael TD and Cabinet Minister.
• 5 October – Jarlath Carey, 74, former Down Gaelic footballer.
• 10 October – Ham Lambert, cricketer and rugby player.
• 16 October – Niall Andrews, Fianna Fáil TD and MEP.
• 18 October – Liam Bennett, 55, former Wexford hurler.
• 9 November – Sam Stephenson, architect.
• 16 November – Frank Durkan, lawyer in the United States.
• 18 November – Roger Bolton, trade unionist in UK.
• 4 December – Andy O'Brien, Fine Gael senator from County Cavan..
• 16 December – Tony O'Shaughnessy, former Cork hurler.

• Seán Ó Coisdealbha, poet, playwright and actor.
• Jimmy Phelan, Kilkenny hurler.