Saturday/Sunday
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, at the annual Fianna Fail Wolfe Tone commemoration at Bodenstown in Co Kildare, praised Sinn Fein and loyalist parties for their courageous political leadership in recent years and called for their efforts to be recognised.
A statement released in Belfast by Sinn Fein party leader, Mr Gerry Adams, reiterated Sinn Fein's commitment to the Belfast Agreement and said republicans needed to address the concerns of unionists in a spirit of respect and goodwill.
The Progressive Unionist Party's annual conference in east Belfast heard party leader, Mr Hugh Smyth, ask Sinn Fein to state the war is over and there would be no first strike from Sinn Fein. Mr Smyth said this would match what the loyalist paramilitaries had said.
Mr Billy Hutchinson, who acts as interlocutor for the UVF and the Red Hand Commando with the international decommissioning body, made a similar plea to republicans.
The funeral of west Limerick poet and translator Michael Hartnett took place in Newcastle West. It was attended by a large gathering of family, friends, poets and writers from all over Ireland.
Monday
The Equality Act outlawing discrimination in the workplace was signed into law at the official opening of the building which houses the new Equality Authority and the Director of Equality Investigations. The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, stressed the commitment of the State to eliminating discrimination.
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, proposed regulations allowing asylum-seekers to be deported to the EU country first entered. Included in the proposals are mechanisms to house asylum-seekers outside Dublin plus the introduction of food, clothing and housing support rather than social welfare payments.
The funeral of Josef Locke, the singer born in Derry, took place in Clane parish church, Co Kildare.
Tuesday
The first all-out strike of the State's 28,000 nurses went ahead despite meetings between the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, and representatives of the nursing organisations. Mr Cowen was criticised by a succession of Opposition leaders in the Dail for his handling of the strike. Emergency cover was provided as hospitals were reduced to a quarter of their normal staffing levels.
A joint Garda/RUC investigation uncovered a cross-Border money-laundering operation located in a bureau de change. Gardai recovered more than £1 million in cash and as much as £100 million is believed to have been laundered from drug-trafficking and other crimes over the last six years for gangs operating in Belfast and Dublin.
Mr Sean Cloney, the Wexford farmer and historian whose life was the subject of the film, A Love Divided, died at his home in Fethard-on-Sea. He had been the subject of a boycott by the Catholic Church in the 1950s.
Wednesday
Former Taoiseach Mr Jack Lynch died at the age of 82. After an early career marked by distinction in hurling and Gaelic football, he later become known as "the real Taoiseach" in his native Cork, regardless of whether or not his party was in government. He joined Fianna Fail in 1948 and led the party from 1966 through the early days of violence in Northern Ireland, the arms crisis and entry to the EEC in 1973. He resigned from politics in 1979.
Described as a modest, self-deprecating man of integrity and kindness, he was widely acclaimed as the most popular leader in the history of Fianna Fail.
The Moriarty tribunal investigating the personal finances of former Taoiseach Mr Charles Haughey, heard from his former secretary and special adviser, Ms Catherine Butler. She described tearing her personal journal containing "the utmost personal, political secrets of Charles Haughey" into little pieces because she did not want the tribunal to get them.
Her testimony conflicts with earlier statements from another former private secretary, Ms Eileen Foy.
A Share the Wealth protest at Leinster House heard Mr Des Geraghty, vice president of SIPTU, say the trade unions would be demanding that the Government begin to redistribute wealth in its next social partnership talks. The protest, organised by the National Anti-Poverty Network, included representatives from the Society of St Vincent de Paul, the Irish Organisation of the Unemployed, the Irish Traveller Movement and the Forum of People with Disabilities.
Thursday
Up to 10,000 nurses marched to the GPO, Dublin, to hear speakers from the nursing unions. Mr Liam Doran, chairman of the Nursing Alliance, warned the Government there could be no social partnership or cohesion with the State having a £2 billion budget surplus and not addressing the problems of the nursing sector.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Government agreed to talks to end the nurses strike. The deputy chairman of the Labour Court, Mr Kevin Duffy, will preside over the process but it is unlikely the Nursing Alliance will lift pickets while the initial talks take place.
The Boyle Medal Award for excellence in scientific research was awarded to Prof Tom Cotter of University College Cork. The award is jointly funded by the Royal Dublin Society and The Irish Times and comes with a bursary of £30,000 to fund the costs of a doctoral student selected by the winner.
The Flood tribunal heard the evidence of Mr Joseph Murphy snr being read into the record. It had been taken in private over 11 days in Guernsey and in it he claimed allegations that he breached exchange regulations and evaded tax were entirely false.