Saturday/Sunday
The Government continued to face a barrage of criticism over how the former minister, Mr Ray Burke, handled the MMDS licence issue. The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, said the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, would be the focus of Fine Gael's attack on how he handled the £30,000 contribution made to Mr Burke by Rennicks, which is 50 per cent owned by Fitzwilton, the company chaired by Dr Tony O'Reilly, who is also the chairman of Independent Newspapers.
The GAA voted to retain rule 21, which bans members of the RUC and British security forces from membership of the organisation.
A compromise reached was that Rule 21 would be deleted when effective steps were taken to implement the amended structures and policing arrangements envisaged in the Belfast Agreement.
The RUC maintained that rioting in Garvaghy Road, Portadown, on Saturday during an Orange Parade was planned.
Monday
About 2,000 jobs are to be created following a decision by Xerox, the US multinational, to invest in its Dublin and Dundalk plants. The investment will create a European centre for manufacturing and tele-services facilities.
Eight refugees from Romania were found outside Kildare town. They were given B & B accommodation in Dublin after applying for political asylum.
The political donation crisis continued. The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, accused the Government of politicising the Flood and Moriarty tribunals by requiring the chairmen to make decisions on the £30,000 donation from Rennicks.
The British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, was in Dublin as part of Britain's presidency of the EU. He was invited to address the Oireachtas in the autumn and accepted. This will be the first time a British prime minister has addressed the Dail and Seanad.
Tuesday
It was learnt that Fianna Fail did not inform the Flood Tribunal that Mr Ray Burke received £30,000 from the Rennicks subsidiary of Fitzwilton. The tribunal was told that £10,000 had been passed to the party by Mr Burke.
The first dispute between the British and Irish governments since the signing of the Belfast Agreement arose over the composition of the Commission for the Reform of Policing in Northern Ireland, which will be chaired by the former governor of Hong Kong, Mr Chris Patten. It emerged that not a single name submitted by the Government was accepted by the British authorities.
The Competition Authority is to institute formal proceedings against two bodies representing publicans for alleged price fixing. The action is being taken as the price of the pint rose by 5p.
Twenty people, including nine Romanians, have been deported since January, after their applications for political asylum failed, according to the Department of Justice.
An appeal by the former Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, against the 1p award given to him in his libel trial against the Sunday Times opened in London.
Wednesday
The Taoiseach cited legal advice, confusion over the amounts and a lack of independent verification as the reason why Fianna Fail had not informed the Flood Tribunal that Mr Burke had received £30,000 from Rennicks. The Dail voted, on a Government proposal, to have the tribunal investigate the revelations relating to Mr Burke.
The Minister for Defence welcomed a High Court decision to award only £3,000 to a former soldier who claimed hearing impairment. The Government hopes the decision will bring an end to the avalanche of claims by soldiers and former soldiers. The decision means the courts can accept the State's official guidelines on hearing damage. At one stage it was estimated the potential costs to the State were running as high as £2 billion.
Tax revenue is expected to be £500 million higher than budgeted for the first five months of the year, according to the Department of Finance.
There was anger in Government circles after the British government unilaterally ended discussions on the composition of the Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland and announced the names of its members.
Thursday
The SDLP and the UUP, the two main parties supporting the Belfast Agreement, share 60 per cent of the vote in the Assembly elections, according to an Irish Times/MRBI poll. The Rev Ian Paisley's DUP has retained its Westminster election support of 13 per cent. The UK Unionists, which also opposes the agreement has 3 per cent, while Sinn Fein has 8 per cent and Alliance 10 per cent. The Women's Coalition and the PUP have one per cent each, and 28 per cent remain undecided.
Lawyers for triple Olympic swimming champion Michelle de Bruin have dismissed reports that traces of artificially produced testosterone were discovered in her urine. They threatened legal proceedings against the International Olympic Committee and Reuters news agency, which alleged that a new test had found evidence of artificially produced hormones.
The President, Mrs McAleese, spent almost £500,000 on her presidential election campaign, while her main rival, Ms Mary Banotti, spent close to £400,000, according to figures released by the Public Offices Commission.
