Saturday/Sunday
Widespread black ice and freezing fog made driving conditions hazardous. Dublin Airport recorded temperatures of -6.3 C at night. Four people were killed in traffic accidents. New weather warnings were issued by the AA.
The Minister for Education and Science, Mr Martin, announced that for the first time in the history of the State, the Government would offer to pay for all school sites, thus becoming the owner of all new sites and buildings.
The K Club in Co Kildare is to host the 2005 Ryder Cup, it was confirmed. The cost of bringing the biennial golf showpiece to Ireland amounts to more that £15 million from Irish sources, spearheaded by the Government.
Monday
Four men went on trial in the Special Criminal Court accused of the capital murder of Det Garda Jerry McCabe.
The court was told Det Garda McCabe was shot during an aborted post office van robbery at Adare, Co Limerick on June 7th, 1996.
The accused are Mr Pearse McCauley, no fixed address, and three Limerick men, Mr Jeremiah Sheehy, Mr Michael O'Neill and Mr Kevin Walsh.
The novelist Brian Moore, whose works include The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, died at his home in Malibu, California. The Belfast-born writer was 77.
A planning consultant who advised the Department of Energy on the sale of forest land at Glen Ding in Co Wicklow denied he told officials to sell the site privately to Roadstone Dublin. Mr Kieran O'Malley said he had recommended the Department sell the site by public tender.
Tour coach drivers warned at their AGM that they would not pick up or drop off tourists outside hotels and tourist venues this season as their vehicles are being clamped or towed away. They called for basic access facilities.
Members of Wicklow County Council agreed to rezone large tracts of agricultural land in the north of the county for industrial and residential use, which will add millions to land values.
Tuesday
The public sittings of the Flood Tribunal of Inquiry into alleged planning corruption began and the main witness, Mr James Gogarty, the 81-year-old former building company executive, began giving evidence. He detailed his early life and his relationship with the millionaire builder, Mr Joseph Murphy, for whom he had worked. Lawyers for a number of parties objected that no opening statement was made by tribunal counsel to set the context.
A decision that Irish and British air accident investigators should begin a joint review of evidence gathered after the 1968 Tuskar Rock disaster was taken after a meeting between the British ambassador, Dame Veronica Sutherland and the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke. A total of 61 lives were lost when the Aer Lingus aircraft went down.
The North's Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, dismissed criticism against him by the deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, Mr John Taylor, who said Mr Mallon was "pretending" to be an honest broker between the UUP and Sinn Fein.
Wednesday
The principal of Mountcollins national school in Co Limerick, Laurence Begley (50), was fined £50 for an assault on a 12-year-old pupil. In what was believed to be the first case of its kind, Begley pleaded guilty to the assault.
The National Parents' Council welcomed the conviction and the primary teachers' union, INTO, said it had warned members that corporal punishment was now a criminal act.
The artist Mr Derek Hill was conferred with honorary citizenship in a ceremony at Aras an Uachtarain. The President, Mrs McAleese, said the award was an expression of the State's deep gratitude and admiration for Mr Hill. Mr Hill was born in Southampton, England, in 1916.
At the Flood tribunal, protracted legal argument prevented Mr James Gogarty, the first witness, from giving evidence. The chairman of the tribunal, Mr Justice Flood, agreed to demands by lawyers for a number of parties for greater access to documents submitted by the 81-year-old.
The entire print run of 36,000 copies of the January issue of the current affairs magazine Magill was pulped because it was considered that an article relating to property might cause problems.
Thursday
A garda sergeant was given a nine-month suspended sentence for attempting to pervert the course of justice. James Cunningham (43), of Duleek, Co Meath, was found guilty by a jury at Dundalk Circuit Criminal Court after it heard that he stopped a doctor on his way to take a sample from a suspected drunk driver in September 1997.
The Government radically shook up the board of Telecom Eireann in an effort to ensure a successful sale of the company's shares, it was reported.
Four of the Government appointees agreed to step down but one director, Mr Paul Mackay, a trustee of the PDs, declined.
Mr James Gogarty told the Flood tribunal he had been asked at least twice to resign his directorships of companies within the Murphy group without a pension having been put in place for him. He was forced to work past his retirement age of 65.
Three Soviet-manufactured heavy machine guns were found hidden on farmland at Blackstaff, five miles from Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, and were believed to be part of the Provisional IRA's arsenal.