Saturday/Sunday
The expenses claimed by Oireachtas members were made public under the Freedom of Information Act, despite objections by the main political parties. The £5.4 million claimed by 165 TDs and 60 senators did not include constituency-based allowances and expenses.
Ms Raonaid Murray (17) from Glenageary, Co Dublin, was stabbed to death as she walked towards her home in Silchester Park at around midnight on Friday. A team of 50 detectives was deployed to investigate the seemingly motiveless killing.
A former long-serving secretary of the Department of Justice, Mr Andrew Ward (73), died in Dublin. From Cork, he worked in the Civil Service for 40 years and was centrally involved in negotiations which led to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
Monday
The former US Senator, Mr George Mitchell, was in Castle Buildings, Stormont, to open the review of the Belfast Agreement. He made clear that the review will concentrate specifically on breaking the deadlock over decommissioning and the formation of an executive. The talks adjourned until next week to give politicians time to study the Patten report on policing.
City gardai overwhelmingly rejected a Government pay offer, criticising the award for being conditional on gardai accepting major changes in their work practices.
Homeless Initiative, a project directed by Dublin Corporation, the Eastern Health Board and voluntary bodies, released figures showing there are 2,900 homeless adults in Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow. This figure was more than double previous estimates.
A report compiled for National Heritage Week showed that 34 per cent of the State's archaeological monuments have been destroyed since 1840. Land improvement or development was listed as the main cause of destruction.
Tuesday
The funeral of Raonaid Murray, the murdered Dublin teenager, took place at St Joseph's Church in Glasthule. It was attended by hundreds of young people.
The number of people reading daily morning newspapers in Ireland has increased, according to a Joint National Readership Research survey. The figures for indigenous Sunday newspapers showed a slight decline.
Church authorities are to be asked by the Department of Environment to give first option to local authorities on any land they may be disposing of, to help the Government solve the housing crisis.
Wednesday
The Government warned nurses, gardai and CIE workers that it would not concede to "unsustainable" pay claims in the run-up to new negotiations for a successor to Partnership 2000.
The Committee of Public Accounts hearings on DIRT irregularities heard that a single taxpayer was helped by bank officials to open 166 accounts. Earlier, the inquiry heard a senior tax official say that the Revenue Commissioners did not have the power to police special low-tax savings accounts.
It was disclosed that bank managers had been rewarded through bonus schemes to encourage the opening of bogus non-resident accounts.
Ireland's EU Commissioner for Social Affairs, Mr Padraig Flynn, speaking in Brussels at one of his last press conferences before retirement, singled out Ireland's lack of adequate childcare facilities and tax disincentives as barriers to women's involvement in the workforce.
Thursday
The Patten Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland released its recommendations for a radical overhaul of the police service. The proposed changes to the ethos, composition, training and structure of the RUC met with a mixed reaction.
The First Minister, Mr Trimble, described it as "the most shoddy piece of work I have seen in my entire life", and there were strong objections from rank-and-file officers. The SDLP and Sinn Fein were prepared to view the document positively.
The Department of Education announced the introduction of a new primary school curriculum which is to affect over 3,000 schools throughout the Republic. More than £5 million is to be spent over five years on new science, drama, social, personal and health education programmes.
The number of visitors to the Republic has increased by 129 per cent in 10 years. The Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Dr McDaid, speaking at a National Landscape Forum, said landscapes need to be protected or developed in a sustainable manner as Ireland was now the fastest-growing tourism destination in the European Union.