Saturday/Sunday
THE body of Ms Marilyn Rynn, the Dublin civil servant missing since before Christmas, was found on parkland near her home in Blanchardstown, Co Dublin, on Sunday morning. Gardai said they believed she was waylaid and murdered as she made her way home in the early hours of the morning of December 22nd.
Weekend storms caused widespread flooding and disruption to transport.
In Bray, Co Wicklow, a 69 year old man was swept into the sea from the pier where he was walking. Another man was drowned in Dublin Bay when he fell overboard from the pilot cutter Tolka.
Up to 1/2 inches of rain were recorded at the meteorological station in Valentia, Co Kerry, in the 24 hours up to midnight on Saturday. Flooding was worst in the south east where three rivers the Nore, Suir and Blackwater burst their banks. Clonmel in Co Tipperary was the worst hit town, with flooding of many homes and businesses.
Brian Friel's play Molly Sweeney opened on Broadway in the worst blizzard seen in the eastern United States in 75 years.
Monday
The Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Richard Bruton, said he was preparing to present the Cabinet with proposals for a new subsidy for employers and major tax and social welfare reform. It was also proposed that 8 and 19 year olds would be paid a lower level of unemployment benefit to encourage them to take jobs or stay in education.
Mr Bruton would further seek to persuade his Cabinet colleagues to reduce employers' PRSI to British levels, and to have the major elements of his plan incorporated in the forthcoming Budget.
Gardai said the delay in finding the body of Ms Rynn may have seriously affected forensic clues in the investigation into her murder.
The Minister for Justice, Ms Owen, defending the Government's record on crime and prisons, said it was wrong to assume that more prison spaces would automatically reduce crime. The governor of Mountjoy Prison said a lack of financial resources was placing a huge strain on the prison system.
Bad weather continued to cause flooding, power cuts and traffic disruptions Again, the south east and Munster were the worst affected.
Tuesday
The Minister for Social Welfare and leader of Democratic Left, Mr De Rossa, sharply criticised the proposals of his Cabinet colleague, Mr Richard Bruton, to tackle unemployment. Cutting social welfare was not the answer to the unemployment problem of young people, Mr De Rossa said.
The proposals also came under fire from the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed, the National Youth Council and Focus Point, the organisation for the homeless. Mr Bruton refused to respond to the criticisms, saying the issue was now a matter for the Cabinet.
The Progressive Democrats unveiled their proposals for tax reform, which also included cutting employers' PRSI.
The Minister of State for Energy, Mr Emmet Stagg, said he would travel to Cumbria to tell a planning inquiry that the development of an underground rock laboratory at Sellafield was seen by the Government as a first step towards dumping very highly radioactive and toxic waste in a way that could threaten the health and safety of the Irish public.
Assistant Garda Commissioner Peter Fitzgerald is to be seconded for a year to head the United Nations International Police Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He will be in charge of a force of 1,700, the largest police operation mounted by the UN.
Mr Pat Tierney, the AIDS victim who killed himself last week, was buried in Dublin.
Wednesday
Sinn Fein published the submission it made before Christmas to the International Body on Decommissioning. In it, Sinn Fein proposed that paramilitary groups would dispose of their own weapons, subject to third party verification.
A 20 year old traveller, wanted for some of the attacks on elderly farmers in the west, absconded from Loughan House open prison in Cavan a month ago, The Irish Times reported.
Electronic tagging, where transmitting devices are attached to the leg bracelets worn by offenders, is being considered as part of a State response to the problems caused by early release from prisons.
The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, suggested that the public service would benefit from performance related pay, a large scale devolution of power within the State apparatus and a major change in its culture.
Thursday
Proposals for an elected body in the North have been discussed by some of the parties in their submissions to the International Body on Decommissioning, The Irish Times reported. It is also understood that the British government has drafted a number of working papers outlining the possible shape and scale of an assembly or convention.
Three judges of the High Court began hearing the action of the former senator, Mr Des Hanafin, who is seeking to have the result of the divorce referendum declared null and void.
A man was wounded in a shotgun attack in his Tallaght home. A man fired two shots through the window of the house in Cushlawn Park. A number of other people, including children, were in the room at the time, but were not injured.
A man who slashed the face of an Australian tourist while robbing her of £30 in Galway last June was given a five year prison sentence in Galway Circuit Court. The judge described the attack as horrible and cowardly.
A delegation from Muintir na Tire met the Minister for Justice to express its concern about the recent spate of assaults on individuals living in remote areas.