2020 in Ireland

Incumbents

• President: Michael D. Higgins
• Taoiseach:
• *Leo Varadkar
• *Micheál Martin
• Tánaiste:
• *Simon Coveney
• *Leo Varadkar
• Minister for Finance: Paschal Donohoe
• Chief Justice: Frank Clarke
• Dáil:
• *32nd
• *33rd
• Seanad:
• *25th
• *26th

  Events

January

• 1 January – With odds of a million to one, Annmarie Byrne-Ryan gave birth to identical triplets at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin.
• 2 January – Tánaiste Simon Coveney and NI Secretary Julian Smith held meetings with the five main Stormont parties in an effort to restore devolved government.
• 3 January – It was revealed that the FAI left the Gardaí almost €360,000 out of pocket over its failure to pay any money for policing operations around major soccer matches.
• 4 January – Nursing Unions called for an emergency meeting with the HSE as overcrowding reached crisis levels at Cork's two biggest hospitals.
• 5 January – One man was killed and a second man remained missing after a trawler sank off the coast of Hook Head overnight.
• 6 January – Gardaí began searching for a man following the attempted abduction of a woman in her 60s in Dublin.
• 8 January – Gardaí arrested two men after three people were taken hostage when a bus was hijacked at Dublin Airport in the early hours of the morning.
• 9 January – Tánaiste Simon Coveney and Northern Secretary Julian Smith published their proposals on restoring power-sharing at Stormont and urged all parties to support the plan.
• 13 January – There were widespread power cuts, downed trees and localised flooding across the country due to Storm Brendan.
• 14 January – Taoiseach Leo Varadkar called a general election for Saturday 8 February.
• 15 January
• *Aer Lingus launched its new uniform which included a trousers option for female crew for the first time.
• *Gardaí confirmed that the dismembered body parts found in Dublin two days earlier were the remains of missing 17-year-old Keane Mulready-Woods.
• *A man was left in a serious condition in hospital after the tent he was sleeping in was removed from the banks of the Grand Canal by an industrial vehicle.
• 16 January – There were major traffic delays along the M50 and the Port Tunnel due to a convoy of tractors as part of a farmers' protest.
• 17 January – Sinn Féin councillor Paddy Holohan was suspended from the party after he made controversial remarks regarding women and the Taoiseach's heritage.
• 18 January – Taoiseach Leo Varadkar insisted Ireland was a "safe" country following the murder of a teenager and a number of violent crimes in recent days.
• 20 January – Fianna Fáil asked the Standards in Public Office Commission to investigate an "abuse" of state events by Fine Gael during the election campaign.
• 23 January
• * James Joyce's last living descendant, his grandson Stephen Joyce, died in France. The event was marked by a public statement of sympathy by President Higgins.
• * Former Republic of Ireland striker Niall Quinn was appointed interim deputy chief executive of the Football Association of Ireland.
• 24 January – Gardaí began an investigation after the bodies of three children were discovered at a house in Newcastle in West Dublin.
• 26 January – Cyclists held a protest along Dublin's Quays to highlight the delays in developing the Liffey Cycle Route.
• 27 January – A married couple were sentenced to five-and-a-half years and four years and nine months for the female genital mutilation of their then 21-month-old daughter.
• 29 January – The mother of the three children found dead at their home in Newcastle, County Dublin, appeared in court charged with their murder.
• 30 January – The Government promised to double its funding and give the Football Association of Ireland an interest free loan of €2.5 million annually for the next three years.

  February

• 1 February – The minimum wage officially increased to €10.10 per hour.
• 3 February – It was announced that the election of candidates will not proceed in the Tipperary constituency due to the death of independent candidate Marese Skehan.
• 4 February – Many second-level schools were closed due to a strike by members of the Teachers' Union of Ireland over unequal pay.
• 5 February – Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy signed a special order to allow the general election vote take place in Tipperary following the death of one of the candidates.
• 6 February – An investigation began into an attack on a memorial wall in Glasnevin Cemetery, which commemorates victims of the revolutionary era.
• 7 February – Hundreds of school children took to the streets to highlight what they describe as a lack of inaction against climate change.
• 8 February – The general election took place with a 62.9% turnout.
• 9 February – Galway-born Eimear Noone became the first female conductor of an Academy Awards ceremony.
• 10 February – Fianna Fáil emerged as the biggest party in the 33rd Dáil by just one seat after counting of ballots concluded in the general election.
• 12 February – Brendan Howlin stepped down as leader of the Labour Party while also announcing that the party would not formally be part of the next government.
• 13 February – The Fianna Fáil parliamentary party agreed not to enter into talks with Sinn Féin about government formation.
• 14 February – The new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis said that there will be no border down the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
• 15 February – The Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality held its first hearings in Malahide.
• 16 February – Thousands of homes, farms and businesses were without power as a result of Storm Dennis, which brought strong winds to parts of the south and west coasts.
• 17 February – Over 900 new speed zones came into effect across the country with cameras operating in areas that have a history of speed-related collisions.
• 18 February
• *Two Irish citizens, who were on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship, tested positive for coronavirus according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
• *Alan Kelly and Aodhán Ó Ríordáin were both nominated to contest the Labour Party leadership election.
• 19 February – The Jewish Representative Council of Ireland said it was "disappointing" that Sinn Féin had yet to condemn "offensive comments" by TD Réada Cronin.
• 20 February
• *The first convening of the 33rd Dáil took place at Leinster House.
• * Fianna Fáil's Seán Ó Fearghaíl was re-elected as Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil.
• * After failing to win enough support to be re-appointed, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar travelled to Áras an Uachtaráin to offer his resignation to President Higgins.
• 21 February – Commissioner Drew Harris said that the Gardaí do not differ from the view of the PSNI that a provisional army council oversees both Sinn Féin and the IRA.
• 24 February – Between 800 and 1,000 people attended a meeting in Cork to rally public support for Sinn Féin's efforts to get into government.
• 25 February – Gardaí began questioning a mother of three over the fatal stabbing of a man in a suspected attack over a car parking space in Kingswood, Dublin.
• 26 February
• * The Dáil Business Committee agreed that the Dáil would not vote on the position of Taoiseach when it meets for a second time next week.
• * The Irish Rugby Football Union confirmed that the Ireland-Italy Six Nations match had been postponed given the need to protect public health in relation to the coronavirus.
• 27 February – The first confirmed case of coronavirus in Northern Ireland reportedly arrived through Dublin Airport from northern Italy.
• 28 February – The Department of Health said that everyone who had been in close contact with a woman diagnosed with coronavirus had been traced and notified.
• 29 February
• * A status red wind warning for Clare and Galway was issued by Met Éireann due to the effects of Storm Jorge.
• * The first case of coronavirus was confirmed in the Republic of Ireland.

  March

• 1 March
• *A secondary school in the east of the country was forced to close for 14 days as a precautionary measure following the first case of coronavirus in the Republic.
• *It was announced that a second Dáil vote for Taoiseach would go ahead on 5 March as parties continued to meet in an attempt to form a government.
• 2 March
• *The majority of Google's 8,000 staff and contractors in Ireland were told to work from home after a member of staff reported flu-like symptoms.
• *Tourism authorities announce that one of the largest annual events, the 2020 Dublin St Patricks Day Parade, is cancelled.
• 3 March
• *Dublin-based Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara claimed the Pritzker Prize, architecture's most prestigious award.
• *The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived at Dublin Airport for a three-day official visit.
• *A second case of coronavirus was confirmed involving a female in the east of the country who travelled from northern Italy.
• 4 March – Four more cases of coronavirus were confirmed in the west of Ireland, bringing the total number of cases in the country to six.
• 5 March
• *The second meeting of the 33rd Dáil took place, however, there was no vote for Taoiseach.
• *Seven new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Ireland, including one patient at Cork University Hospital who had not travelled to an infected area.
• 6 March – The Government announced that it was not recommending the cancellation of mass public gatherings amid the spread of coronavirus.
• 7 March – The recruitment embargo on nurses and midwives was lifted in an effort to cope with the coronavirus outbreak.
• 8 March – The Health Service Executive said that it cannot dispute projections that 1.9 million people in the Republic of Ireland may fall ill with coronavirus.
• 9 March
• *St. Patrick's Day parades were cancelled in cities and towns around the country, following concerns over the coronavirus.
• *A bill which has the potential to give Irish workers access to thousands of US visas every year was passed by the US House of Representatives.
• 10 March
• *Ryanair and Aer Lingus announced that they were suspending all their Italian flights for a period of one month.
• *A patient admitted to Cork University Hospital, who had tested positive for COVID-19, was discharged after making a full recovery.
• 11 March
• *A woman in the east of the country with an underlying illness became the first COVID-19 patient to die in Ireland.
• *The Green Party called on all parties to "work towards forming a crisis national government" to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.
• 12 March
• *The Taoiseach met President Trump at the White House as part of the St. Patrick's Day festivities.
• *The Taoiseach said the country's schools, colleges and childcare facilities were to close until 29 March in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• *The GAA, FAI and IRFU took the unprecedented step of suspending all games for a two-week period in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
• 13 March – Senior members of the Gardaí who were due to retire in the coming weeks have been asked to stay on in the national interest.
• 14 March
• *The Taoiseach said COVID-19 was a virus "that knows no borders" at a meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council in Armagh.
• *The Department of Health announced that a second person in the east of the country had died as a result of COVID-19.
• *US Vice-President Mike Pence announced that a travel ban imposed on European nations over the coronavirus pandemic would be extended to Ireland.
• 15 March – The government asked pubs and bars to close until 29 March as part of measures to delay the spread of coronavirus.
• 16 March
• *It was revealed that a possible 140,000 people have been laid off work because of the measures taken to tackle the coronavirus.
• *The GAA offered the use of Croke Park as a COVID-19 drive-through testing centre.
• *Taoiseach Leo Varadkar confirmed that some 15,000 coronavirus infections were expected by the end of the month.
• 17 March
• *For the first time since 2001, there were no traditional St. Patrick's Day parades held in any part of the country.
• *New measures regarding the legal, medical and social welfare elements of the coronavirus were signed off on following an incorporeal meeting of the cabinet.
• *In a special Ministerial Briefing broadcast, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the coronavirus emergency could go on for months into the summer.
• 18 March
• *The first of three days of detailed policy discussions between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael began.
• *Health Minister Simon Harris confirmed that 24,000 people contacted the HSE in response to the request for staff to be on call to assist the health services.
• *The GAA confirmed that the start of the 2020 All-Ireland Football Championship had been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• *The five main banks agreed to introduce measures to help those affected by coronavirus, including a payment break and the deferment of court proceedings.
• *The Department of Health confirmed that Leitrim, Laois and Monaghan were the only three counties within the state without a COVID-19 case.
• 19 March
• *The 2020 Leaving Cert and Junior Cert oral and practical examinations were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
• *The Dáil passed emergency legislation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic without a vote and with a limited number of just 48 TDs present.
• *A woman from the east of the country became the third person in Ireland to die from COVID-19.
• 20 March
• *319 students, some of whom had only been in training in the Garda College for the last few weeks, were sworn in as Gardaí and assigned to stations all over the country.
• *The Seanad passed emergency legislation giving the State new powers to detain people, restrict travel and keep people in their homes during the COVID-19 crisis.
• *Seán Cox returned home to Dunboyne almost two years after suffering life-changing head injuries in an attack outside a Liverpool match.
• 21 March – Aer Lingus increased its capacity on Spanish routes by 20% in an effort to bring as many Irish citizens home as possible before tonight's deadline of midnight.
• 22 March – A fourth person died of COVID-19 in the Republic of Ireland as confirmed cases passed the 1,000 mark on the island of Ireland.
• 23 March – A number of multi-national fast food chains and restaurants closed their doors due to the coronavirus pandemic, leaving thousands without work.
• 24 March
• *The school and college shutdown was extended until Monday 20 April at the earliest.
• *The Taoiseach announced "unprecedented" restrictions regarding the closures of non-essential retail businesses and facilities effective from midnight.
• *The Government announced a €3.7bn package to support businesses and workers who had been laid-off due to the virus.
• 25 March – Gardaí began three criminal investigations into incidents where emergency service employees had been coughed at or spat at in the course of their work.
• 26 March
• *Minister for Health Simon Harris announced that student nurses would be paid for the duration of the COVID-19 crisis.
• *Front line healthcare workers were applauded by TDs in the Dáil and people all over Ireland at 8pm.
• *The Dáil passed the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill without a vote.
• 27 March
• *The Taoiseach announced that from midnight until 12 April, everybody must stay at home except in specific circumstances.
• *Miriam O'Callaghan became the first female presenter of RTÉ's The Late Late Show when she stood in for regular presenter Ryan Tubridy.
• 28 March – Aer Lingus flight EI9018 left Dublin Airport on the first of up to 60 flights to Beijing to collect medical supplies.
• 29 March – Public funerals were banned in two Catholic dioceses as part of efforts to halt the spread of coronavirus.
• 30 March – Polls closed at 11am and counting began in the election of candidates to the 26th Seanad.
• 31 March
• *Seán Kyne became the first candidate elected to the Seanad.
• *The Government announced that the fuel allowance season would be extended for four weeks as those over 70 were encouraged to continue "cocooning".
• *Construction firm BAM announced that work was to cease on the National Children's Hospital as a result of COVID-19 measures.
• Public access to the swimming pool in the Templemore Garda College is ended in line with public health restrictions