January:The year began with tragedy when seven men died in two separate trawler incidents off the Waterford coast within hours of each other.
Two were rescued from the seas when the Honeydew II sank, but two of their crew mates died. Earlier, the Pere Charles had sunk with the loss of all five men on board.
Sean Quinn took over Bupa after the health insurance company had announced that it was leaving the Irish market as a protest against "risk equalisation". As a new insurer, Quinn reckoned he could get a three-year exemption. But it never materialised.
In other, health-related news, claims against beauty salons were on the up. As a mirror into an Ireland obsessed with both looks and lawyers, the most common claims followed treatments such as eyelash tinting, lip and facial waxing, and intense pulse light (IPL) laser treatment, which can seriously damage the skin. The previous July had seen a rash of leg-waxing problems - no pun intended.
'People are now so terrified they won't come out for a drink. What are people supposed to do for a night out? It's like a Taliban regime'
Pat Gill, of Darby O'Gills pub, Killarney, decries "morning after" breathalyser testing
February
Almost 90 years after their last, terrible appearance at Croke Park, the English returned. This time it was with a rugby team, but they were trailed by controversy. One man, JJ Bartlett, withdrew his father's All-Ireland medals from the GAA museum. Meanwhile, the British were given a history lesson as the game approached, and ultimately a lesson in rugby when Ireland hammered them in a performance typified by Shane Horgan's football-style catch for a try. The anthems passed off peacefully, but with plenty of emotion, and there was a sense of a chapter in our history coming to a close.
One of the more unusual crime stories from the year involved the apparent attempt by a young man to extort €50,000 from his father by faking a kidnapping. He staged a photograph of himself tied up, as a masked man pointed a shotgun at his head. Then he asked his girlfriend to approach his father. However, the father called the Garda, who "smelled a rat immediately" but arranged a drop-off point - at which point they pounced on the supposed kidnap victim.
'I'm a very lucky man. The consultant wouldn't have seen the left side of my face but for the fact that I was sitting at the left of the group in the studio'
Minister of State Conor Lenihan, who was diagnosed with a tumour after a surgeon saw him on RTÉ's Prime Time
March
If any image - or succession of images - will come to represent 2007 it will be that of Ian Paisley whooping with laughter with Aer Lingus staff, Bertie Ahern and a former chief of staff of the IRA. It all began in March when he sat down almost, but not quite, beside Gerry Adams. The two men agreed to form a power-sharing executive and, with Martin McGuinness as First Minister, Paisley went on to form the much-loved comedy duo, the Chuckle Brothers.
Dubliners became obsessed with hotels that were either closing - Jurys in Ballsbridge would serve its last guest later in the year - or re-opening, in the case of the Shelbourne. The revamped hotel brought the media and political set back into the Horseshoe Bar.
The Irish cricket team - which went to the World Cup in the West Indies as relative unknowns - became both sporting stars and unwilling participants in a murder mystery. First, they beat Zimbabwe and Pakistan in the shocks of the tournament. But when Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room, a murder investigation was launched. It would take months for it to be confirmed that Woolmer had died of natural causes.
'You have permission to call me anything you want - except sir, all right? Lord of lords, your demigodness, that'll do'
Bono receiving an honorary knighthood
April
The deaths of a family in Wexford - Adrian and Ciara Dunne and their children, three-year-old Shania and five-year-old Leanne - was a shocking event. There had been warning signs before the discovery of Adrian Dunne's hanging body, along with those of his family, apparently smothered. The couple had made enquiries into funeral arrangements, and the undertaker was so concerned that she had asked the Garda to investigate. A family friend, a priest, contacted the local parish priest asking him to call, and the HSE were called about the matter - but to no avail.
Nurses went on strike, and at times tried the patience of both the public as well as the Government. But they did so just as the general election campaign was getting into full swing, so their bargaining power was pretty strong and by May they had gained concessions over working hours and better pay.
Having made their names and fortune on Riverdance, Moya Doherty and John McGolgan were made to walk the plank by the critics when new show The Pirate Queen went to Broadway and closed in April after less than three months.
'What kind of house could you buy for €205,000?'
Consultant PJ Breen commenting after the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association rejected yearly public hospital contracts of €205,000
May
The general election campaign began with Fianna Fáil on the rack, thanks to Bertie's financial affairs, uncomfortable press conferences and his pinched-mouth silence to journalists. After that, it was neck and neck in the polls, so the TV debate was eagerly awaited. First came the leaders of the smaller parties, but it was only a warm -up for the face-off between Bertie and Enda. Afterwards, the press declared it a stalemate; but the public got it right by deciding that the Taoiseach had walloped the pretender. Kenny may have had a list of "tell that to the man in Leitrim" examples, but there weren't enough of them out there to sweep him to power once voting day came around.
There were clashes between workers and protesters at the planned M3 through Meath's Tara-Skryne Valley. Archaeological discoveries were followed by occupations and challenges. But outgoing Minister for the Environment Dick Roche signed off on the dismantling of Lismullen henge before John Gormley took over.
The first golden eagle to hatch in Ireland in 100 years was born in Glenveagh National Park, Co Donegal, almost seven years since the species had been reintroduced.
'I better shake the hands of this man. I'll give him a firm handshake'
DUP leader Ian Paisley greeting Taoiseach Bertie Ahern
June
Beverley Flynn settled her three-year-old libel action with RTÉ, agreeing to pay out €1.3 million, plus €500,000 in legal debts. (A jury had previously found that she had encouraged customers to evade tax.) Immediately, the broadcaster was accused of bowing to pressure from the Government, which it denied. Flynn's settlement led her to drop a challenge to a bar on bankrupts holding seats in the Dáil, although her mooted return to the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party has yet to happen.
Rumours suggested that John O'Donoghue wasn't overly excited about being made Ceann Comhairle, and his first day in the job wouldn't have changed his mind. Fine Gael TD Michael Ring treated him like a substitute teacher, telling him he was making up the rules as he went along and refusing to leave the chamber when so ordered. "The Bull" O'Donoghue couldn't resist the red rag, blowing his top. Meanwhile the country watched the playground antics and wondered if it was time to scrap democracy.
In June it rained. And rained. And rained. It then rained in July, making for the wettest couple of months in Dublin since records began. But Donegal's summer wasn't so bad, with sunshine at levels not seen in 50 years.
'A deal with Fianna Fail would be a deal with the devil'
Green Party TD Ciaran Cuffe writing on his blog, before his party entered coalition
July
A routine search and rescue mission off Mizen Head quickly became the largest drugs seizure in the history of the State. Bales of cocaine worth over €100 million were pulled from the sea after a boat capsized in heavy weather. One man was rescued and three others were later arrested. As recently as November, another bale - believed to be the last of 62 that comprised the consignment - was found off west Cork.
At the end of July, over 100 Roma, who had spent three months living in filthy conditions on a roundabout in Ballymun, north Dublin, went home to Romania. Members of the extended Rostas family had been criticised for coming to Ireland despite not being allowed work here, and amid confusion over their living conditions in Romania. It was later confirmed that some of the family have since returned to Ireland.
Operation Banner came to an end 38 years after the British army began its military exercise in Northern Ireland. It meant a reduction of its presence to that of a peacetime garrison. British forces had lost 763 members since 1969.
'The fact is that people feel the Seanad is such an irrelevance they would put their vote up for sale'
Daniel Sullivan, a candidate for election to the Seanad on the NUI panel, after an eBay user listed his Seanad vote for sale
August
When Aer Lingus announced that it would move its Heathrow route out of Shannon to Belfast, it triggered an almighty row that dragged in the Government, the unions and the Western seaboard. 10,000 people protested in Limerick city; pilots and cabin crew threatened to strike over new conditions and Willie O'Dea ended up in some kind of a verbal brawl in a bar with a campaigner. But it made no difference. Aer Lingus moved in early December.
A Donegal teenager, Patrick Devine, finally returned home after spending 27 days in a Senegalese jail. His crime? "Mooning" a local governor's house. His ordeal made international news. and his Bebo page became a shrine to his misadventure. His unfortunate online moniker? Lazyassdevine.
Following a six-week journey from Denmark, the 65-person crew of the Viking longship The Sea Stallion arrived safely in Dublin Port. The journey - so dangerous that it had to be towed for one leg - concluded an historic trip for a boat exactly copied from the 9th century original.
'The fear is that Irish parents will just move on and take their kids elsewhere'
Conor Lenihan, Minister of State with responsibility for integration, on his concerns that suburbs would become ghettoes of immigrants
September
On September 14th, Bertie Ahern finally took the stand at the Mahon tribunal. "It's the first opportunity in seven-and-a-half years of being tormented about these issues that I have had the chance to come before the justices," he said. The biggest surprise was how boring it was for many of those packed into Dublin Castle. But it wasn't to be Bertie's last visit, and the tribunal has seen a colourful cast bring new twists to the plot. Not all have tallied with his version of events over his by now infamous "dig-out" money, meaning that the issue continues to torment him.
German ambassador to Ireland Christian Pauls (left) learned just how thin-skinned we can be, when a private talk to German visiting groups saw him accused of insulting the Irish nation. He was reported as saying that we all drive new cars, the traffic is terrible, the hospital waiting lists chaotic and that the place was becoming "coarse". Hardly shocking, but Fine Gael MEP Gay Mitchell was unimpressed with the tone. "What he said was very undiplomatic and his contribution was somewhere between resentment and spite." Pauls expressed regret for any misunderstanding, but by then the Government had issued some strong words and any further comments are strictly verboten.
'We won't allow something as stupid and unfounded as that to disrupt us'
- Irish rugby captain Brian O'Driscoll dismissing rumours of turmoil in the camp ahead of the World Cup rugby match against France
October
When chairman of the Road Safety Authority Gay Byrne and Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey unveiled a new road safety strategy, outrage greeted their proposed reform of the provisional driver's licence system. In giving short notice before changing a system that had been happily ignored for years, and with test waiting times still lengthy, they had underestimated the public's stubbornness. Days later, the Government backed down and declared there would be a "grace period".
The killing of Paul Quinn - beaten to death by a gang in a barn in Cullyhana, Co Monaghan - was shocking on any level. But the 21-year-old's death threatened to have wider political ramifications, with suspicions that the killers were members of the IRA's South Armagh unit. Sinn Féin immediately denied this, and the Executive held, but the Quinn family's campaign for justice has been relentless.
'Centuries of turmoil, conquest and famine ... have left them with a deliciously dark sense of humour and a welcoming attitude'
- Lonely Planet declares the Irish to be the world's friendliest people
November
With the health service again under fire - largely due to incorrect breast screening results at Portlaoise - the Prof John Crown affair was an indication of how little trust there was in the Government. The oncologist was originally lined up to appear on a Late Late Show panel, only to be replaced late in the week. Crown claimed Government interference, the Opposition parties smelled a conspiracy and suddenly RTÉ - already smarting from the High Society controversy - was asked to explain itself. It pointed out it was a normal editorial decision, unaffected by the phone calls to Mary Harney's representatives when it had asked her to appear. But a €2 increase in the licence fee a few days later only bolstered the conspiracists' argument.
Omagh added a new tragedy to its recent history, with the death in a house fire of all seven members of the McElhill family. Arthur McElhill (39, below), his partner Lorraine McGovern (30) and their five children, Caroline (13), Sean (7), Bellina (4), Clodagh (19 months) and James (nine months) died despite rescue attempts by neighbours. Although the PSNI
asked for responsible reporting, news that Arthur McElhill (left) was a registered sex offender, and that police were not looking for any other suspects, was shocking. The family later shared a funeral service, but the father was buried separately.
'Ireland is just loveless at the moment'
A Dublin trader after €3.5 billion was wiped off the value of Irish shares in a day