2018 in Ireland


Events during the year 2018 in Ireland.

Incumbents

January

  • 1 January
  • * Teachtaí Dála awarded themselves a pay increase of €3,600, with a further increase to follow in October, bringing the total increase in 2018 to €4,500, yielding an annual salary of €94,500.
  • * The Road Safety Authority published provisional statistics for 2017, which showed a 15% drop in road deaths since year. A total of 158 people died on Ireland's roads compared to 186 lives lost in 2016. It was the lowest figure since they were first officially recorded in 1959.
  • 2 January
  • * A record 656 patients were on trolleys or on wards waiting for admission to a bed, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
  • *Met Éireann issued two Status Orange warnings as Storm Eleanor swept across the country bringing gusts of up to 130 km/h and flooding in some areas. Up to 55,000 Electricity Supply Board customers in the west and north west of the country were left without power.
  • 3 January – The level of hospital overcrowding increased to a national record of 677 patients, according to the latest figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
  • 4 January – Taoiseach Leo Varadkar apologised to patients who have experienced long delays and waits on trolleys in emergency departments as the Health Service Executive revealed that there were 12 children on trolleys in the three children's hospitals in Dublin.
  • 6 January – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Down and Connor suspended the sign of peace between people at masses in response to the surge in cases of influenza.
  • 7 January – Met Éireann issued a Status Orange low temperature warning for many counties, with temperatures as low as −6 °C expected overnight.
  • 12 January – Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Coveney met new Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley for the first time. The two ministers discussed the re-establishment of power-sharing in the north.
  • 14 January – The Citizens' Assembly recommended a ban on anonymous donations to political parties and campaign groups, while favouring the introduction of weekend voting and lowering the voting age to 16.
  • 15 January – Gardaí announced that they are to conduct a review into the death of a baby whose body was found on a beach at Cahersiveen in County Kerry 33 years ago.
  • 16 January – Gardaí apologised to Joanne Hayes for the stress and pain she was put through as part of the original investigation into the murder of 'Baby John' in Kerry in 1984.
  • 17 January
  • * Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that the European Union is at a decisive point in its future when he addressed MEPs in the European Parliament in the first of a series of debates between EU government leaders and MEPs on the future of the EU.
  • * Opening statements on the Report of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution were made in the Dáil, with Minister for Health Simon Harris describing the commencement of the debate as a historic one.
  • 18 January
  • * Minister for Transport Shane Ross accidentally voted against his own Road Traffic Bill in the Dáil.
  • * Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin announced his support for the repeal of the Eighth Amendment.
  • 20 January – Mary Lou McDonald was confirmed as Sinn Féin's President-elect by Gerry Adams at a meeting of the party Ard Comhairle and its Northern region organisation in Belfast. She was he only candidate for the leadership.
  • 25 January – The Dáil passed legislation to allow the sale of alcohol on Good Friday for the first time in over 90 years.
  • 27 January – Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced that he will be campaigning for more liberal abortion laws in the forthcoming referendum on the repeal of the Eighth Amendment.
  • 29 January
  • * It was announced that Michelle O'Neill is to be the new deputy leader of Sinn Féin after it was confirmed she was the only candidate nominated for the post.
  • * The Cabinet gave formal approval to the holding of a referendum on the Eighth Constitutional Amendment.

    February

  • 3 February – Brexit supporter Nigel Farage said at a Dublin conference that there was "a gap in the political market" in Ireland for a party to push for an Irish exit from the European Union.
  • 5 February – More than 30 homes in 12 counties were searched as part of an investigation into the possession and distribution of child abuse images.
  • 7 February – More than 30 secondary school students and two adults were taken to hospital after a school bus and a car collided in Caherconlish, County Limerick.
  • 9 February – The EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the UK's decision to leave the EU single market and customs union will mean checks at the Irish border are "unavoidable".
  • 10 February – Mary Lou McDonald was formally elected as President of Sinn Féin at a special Ard Fheis at the RDS.
  • 12 February – Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and British Prime Minister Theresa May held talks at Stormont in an effort to resolve the deadlock in establishing the Executive.
  • 14 February – A three-year-old girl died following an alleged assault at her home in Dublin the previous Saturday.
  • 16 February – The government launched a €116 billion development plan for the country. Project Ireland 2040 is aiming to spread economic development across the country which will see a population expansion of one million people over the lifetime of the plan.
  • 20 February – The proposed wording that would be inserted in the Constitution should people vote to repeal the Eighth Amendment has been agreed by the Cabinet.
  • 25 February – Aodhán Ó Conchúir, a 14-year-old student at Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne, died following a head injury sustained while playing in a football match in Dingle.
  • 28 February – Met Éireann issued a red weather warning, its most severe alert, for all of Munster and Leinster as the Beast from the East weather event arrived.

    March

  • 1 March – The Status Red snow and ice warning was extended to the entire country with blizzard conditions expected. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar called on people to heed public safety warnings about the blizzard conditions that are expected and to be safe at home by 4pm on Thursday.
  • 2 March
  • *Two separate weather warnings were in place for the country tonight as blizzard-like conditions and exceptionally high accumulations of snow were expected with the arrival of Storm Emma.
  • *Taoiseach Leo Varadkar ordered a general review of the Government's Strategic Communications Unit after a week of controversy over advertorials for Project Ireland 2040.
  • 3 March – A vote in Lisdoonvarna returned a 93% rejection of plans by the Reception and Integration Agency to house asylum seekers in the King Thomond Hotel.
  • 4 March – A 27-year-old man appeared in court in Dundalk charged with the murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe in County Louth just over five years earlier.
  • 5 March – Thousands of people were without electricity, while water rationing was imposed in some areas as the country recovered from the recent bad weather.
  • 6 March – Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary becomes Ireland's latest billionaire, earning himself a place on Forbes's annual billionaire ranking.
  • 8 March
  • *The Cabinet agreed to hold a referendum asking voters to repeal the Eighth Amendment and "provision be made in law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy".
  • *Former President Mary McAleese criticised the Catholic Church as "an empire of misogyny".
  • 10 March – Tens of thousands of people marched through Dublin in one of the country's biggest ever anti-abortion demonstrations.
  • 12 March
  • *The Taoiseach, speaking at an event in Oklahoma, thanked members of the Choctaw Nation for the generosity shown by their ancestors to Ireland during the Great Famine.
  • *There were 714 patients on trolleys or on wards awaiting admission to a hospital bed – the highest number ever recorded.
  • 14 March
  • *36 people were arrested following days of Garda activity in the Kilkenny-Carlow area aimed at preventing crime and disrupting criminal activity.
  • *Taoiseach Leo Varadkar confirmed that an invitation to US President Donald Trump to visit Ireland extended by his predecessor Enda Kenny still stands.
  • *Students occupying Trinity College Dublin's dining hall in a protest over extra charges were denied access to toilets and water by security at the college, according to the students' union.
  • 15 March – Taoiseach Leo Varadkar met US President Donald Trump in the White House where Trump said he would like to visit Ireland soon. He later had to clarify that he had not interfered in the planning process four years previously when Trump had asked him to intervene to block the creation of a wind farm near Trump's Doonbeg golf resort.
  • 16 March – The Taoiseach met US Vice President Mike Pence at his official residence. In a break with protocol, the media were not in attendance, however, it is understood that the Taoiseach did raise the issue of gay rights.
  • 17 March – The Irish rugby team beat England 24–15, winning the Grand Slam in addition to the 2018 Six Nations Championship secured a week earlier.
  • 19 March – The European Union and Britain agreed that there must be a "backstop" solution to ensure that there is no hard border on the island of Ireland. A backstop agreement would fully align Northern Ireland with the rules of the EU in order to avoid a hard border.
  • 20 March – Taoiseach Leo Varadkar discussed Brexit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin during his first visit to the German capital as Taoiseach.
  • 21 March
  • *Pope Francis confirmed that he will make the first papal trip to Ireland in nearly 40 years, visiting Dublin for two days in August.
  • *The second stage of the bill to allow for a referendum on the Eighth Amendment passed by a large majority in the Dáil by 110 votes to 32.
  • 27 March
  • *The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, informed the Russian Ambassador to Ireland that the "accreditation of a member of his staff with diplomatic status is to be terminated".
  • *The Minister for Health, Simon Harris, announced that the Cabinet approved the "general scheme" of the legislation on abortion that would be brought forward if the referendum on the Eighth Amendment was passed.
  • 28 March
  • *Ulster and Ireland rugby player Paddy Jackson was acquitted of rape and sexual assault, while his teammate Stuart Olding was acquitted of rape.
  • *The government announced that the referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment will take place on 25 May.
  • *New figures revealed that there were 1,739 homeless families recorded in February.
  • 29 March – The Save the 8th campaign was launched in Dublin. The group is campaigning for a "No" vote in May's referendum on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.
  • 30 March
  • *Pubs opened on Good Friday for the first time in 91 years.
  • *The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed that an Irish diplomat has been instructed to leave Russia.