SATURDAY/SUNDAY
THE Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, announced "one last push" to defuse the marching season, in a move welcomed by nationalists and unionists.
Gardai began excavating a two-acre site and a small lake on a farm in Co Clare in their search for the body of a woman who disappeared 10 years ago.
Mr John Gormley of the Green Party had his election to the Dail finally confirmed after eight days of rechecking the votes in Dublin South East.
The latest report on cattle deaths in Askeaton, Co Limerick, showed that any environmental factor which caused more than 170 animal fatalities since 1988 was now absent.
Independent Newspapers denied trying to put pressure on the Government over TV deflector operators.
A Tyrone minor footballer died as a result of injuries received in his county's Ulster championship game against Armagh.
MONDAY
Two RUC officers were shot dead by the IRA in Lurgan, Co Armagh, provoking fears of an upsurge in IRA activity accompanied by a loyalist backlash.
US company Hewlett Packard has discussed major expansion plans with IDA Ireland, under which it would employ almost 4,000 people at Leixlip, Co Dublin, in about five years. The company is also expected to announce an immediate 1,000-job expansion at the plant. Norwich Union shares brought substantial windfalls for its I 50,000 Irish shareholders during their first day of trading in London.
A £4.1 million extension of the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art is planned, increasing its exhibition space by 50 per cent by 2000. University professors warned that the programme to provide an extra 1,000 computer software graduates a year would have to be postponed unless the Government came up with the required investment.
TUESDAY
The possibility of the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, meeting a Sinn Fein delegation before he becomes Taoiseach receded following the IRA killing of two RUC constables.
Ireland and Britain fought off any hint of a commitment to an EU merger with the Western European Union as Europe's leaders edged towards agreement on a new treaty. The Watcher, an oil painting by Paul Henry, sold for a record £166,500 in London, more than four times its pre-sale estimate.
Following losses of £7.2 million at Mackie International there will be a £5.2 million rights issue at a fraction of the last traded price, management changes and the replacement of the group's lawyers, stockbrokers and financial advisers.
The UN General Assembly approved the President, Mrs Robinson, as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Orangemen ruled out meeting representatives of residents' groups about parades.
An off-duty security man, Mr Liam Martin (23), died after being stabbed during a fracas in a fast food restaurant in O'Connell Street, Dublin. A Dublin man jailed for seven years for raping a woman he met at a Christmas dance was released after serving one year.
WEDNESDAY
The funerals took place of Constables David Johnston and John Graham, the two RUC officers shot dead by the IRA.
The Minister for Education, Ms Breathnach, ruled out seeking a nomination elsewhere for the Seanad elections following her failure to be nominated by the Labour Party.
The Garda investigation HQ in the Veronica Guerin case in Lucan is being closed because of changes in police divisional boundaries but senior Gardai said it did not mean a reduction in the scale of the investigation.
A recommendation by the National Lottery review group that funds should still be allocated by the government was criticised.
THURSDAY
The Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrats Action Programme for the New Millennium, which aims to reduce the top rate of income tax from 48 to 42 per cent, and the standard rate gradually from 26 to 20 per cent over five years, was ratified by the two parties.
Central Statistics Office figures confirmed that Ireland is the fastest-growing economy in the developed world, recording a 6.9 per cent rise in gross national product in 1996.
The British supermarket giant, Safeway, and its Irish partner, Fitzwilton, plan to build a chain of 20 superstores in the Republic's main urban locations over the next five years.
The Government approved the drafting of a new Equal Status Bill, modified after the Supreme Court found that two sections of it were unconstitutional.
The RUC confirmed it received "several applications" for Orange marches in the week after the Drumcree parade on July 6th, in a move which is being viewed as an attempt to stretch police resources. Nationalist groups responded by applying for permission to stage counter-demonstrations.