Saturday/Sunday
MICHAEL Cahill (33), a prisoner armed with a syringe, escaped from a Garda van in Dublin while being escorted by three prison officers with a Garda driver.
Two winners one in Cavan and the other in Meath shared the record Lotto jackpot of £7,486,024.
There were reports that the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, had been acting as an intermediary between the British government and Sinn Fein, drafting several versions of a statement setting out ceasefire terms he believed could be mutually acceptable to Mr Major and the IRA Army Council.
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, declined to deny a report in the Sunday Tribune that negotiations had begun. Mr Hume said he had maintained contact with Mr Adams, was trying to restore a ceasefire and was keeping both governments fully informed of his actions.
The new Catholic Primate and Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Sean Brady, said at his installation in St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh that reconciliation in the North was "not something to be attempted only after a political solution has been found".
Aid agencies and the United Nations warned that time was running out for up to a million Rwandan Hutu refugees who had fled fighting in eastern Zaire.
Monday
The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, said he was hopeful about the initiative aimed at securing an IRA ceasefire and getting Sinn Fein into multi party talks.
The new RUC Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan, repeated his warning that the IRA was planning further attacks against high profile targets.
Fourteen families in the Lady's Well area of Cork had to be rehoused after their homes were inundated by a flash flood which was caused by a burst water main.
Three men from Tallaght were charged with causing grievous bodily harm following an attack on a man with baseball bats, batons and a pick axe handle.
The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) announced the expulsion of seven members recently convicted on substance abuse charges.
Tuesday
Three more cases of BSE were discovered - two in Wexford and one in Longford - bringing the total number of cases in the national herd this year to 47.
A vigilante group including members of the IRA was believed to have been responsible for the attack on a 17 year old Cabra youth whose ear was severed by a gang of masked men.
The libel action by the Minister for Social Welfare and Democratic Left leader, Proinsias De Rossa, against an article written by Eamon Dunphy in the Sunday Independent, opened at the High Court.
The Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, announced a wide ranging "national cancer strategy" involving a regional cancer service, a large increase in the number of consultants and other specialists, national breast and cervical cancer screening programmes and new chemotherapy guidelines.
Wednesday
President Bill Clinton beat Republican election challenger, Mr Bob Dole, to become the first Democratic president to win reelect ion for a second term since Franklin D. Roosevelt 60 years ago. Within hours of his re election, Mr Clinton was discussing changes which could bring former Senator George Mitchell back to the US from chairing the Northern Ireland multi party talks.
The political director of the Lab our Party, Mr Fergus Finlay, rejected statements about him made during the Albert Reynolds/ Sunday Times libel action in London. Lord Williams QC, for Mr Reynolds, referred to Mr Finlay as a "snake in the grass" and "a man who lurked in the darkness".
Two men were questioned by gardai in Dublin and three in Cork in connection with the search of a South American freighter in Bantry Bay, Co Cork.
Neil Jordan's film, Michael Collins, was jointly premiered in Cork and Dublin.
Thursday
The Minister for Justice was embroiled in a political storm after the sudden release and rear rest of 16 high security prisoners in Portlaoise, Limerick and Mountjoy prisons.
The release was ordered because the men were being held in unlawful custody because the Special Criminal Court order remanding them was invalid.
The mistake occurred because the Government had accepted Judge Dominic Lynch's request to be removed from the Special Criminal Court on August 1st, but had not informed him. The result was that the judge's involvement in the court for three months had been invalid. Mrs Owen cited "a very serious lapse in administrative procedures" as the reason Judge Lynch had not been told of the Government's decision. She immediately set up an inquiry into the incident.
The 16 were arrested on release from prison and charged again in the Special Criminal Court.
The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, defended Mrs Owen against calls for her resignation, saying she was the "best Minister for Justice in recent times".
It emerged that the final compensation bill for people who contracted hepatitis C through infected blood could run to £180 million.
Friday
The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, made another strong defence of Mrs Owen in the continuing controversy over the release and rearrest of 16 prisoners. He said that, even if she offered her resignation, he would not accept it. The leader of Democratic Left, Proinsias De Rossa, said his party was behind her also.
In a landmark decision, the High Court in Belfast ruled that citizens of the Republic would be eligible for jobs in the civil service in Northern Ireland.
Mr Justice French, in his summing up at the Albert Reynolds/ Sunday Times libel case in London, described the Labour/Fianna Fail coalition as a "somewhat uneasy alliance which nonetheless had achieved a great deal".