2006 in Ireland

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Centuries:	19th 20th 21st
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See also:	2006 in Northern Ireland Other events of 2006 List of years in Ireland

Events from the year 2006 in Ireland.

Incumbents

• President: Mary McAleese
• Taoiseach: Bertie Ahern (FF)
• Tánaiste: Mary Harney (PD) (until September 13, 2006); Michael McDowell (PD) (starting September 13, 2006)
• Chief Justice: John L. Murray
• Dáil: 29th

Events

Riots occurred on the streets of Dublin in February.

Prime Minister of Australia John Howard addressed Dáil Éireann in May.

The Dublin Port Tunnel opened in December.

• January – A gay Gorey Town Councillor is targeted by a vicious hate campaign which outs him in a local newspaper.^[1]
• 9 January – Steve Staunton is appointed the new manager of the Republic of Ireland football team, to be mentored by Bobby Robson as International Football Consultantant.
• 17 January – The GAA, FAI and IRFU announce that a deal has been reached which will allow soccer and rugby to be played in Croke Park.
• 30 January – Postal workers enter a 20-day wildcat strike disrupting most of Belfast's delivery service
• 14 February – The 25th Anniversary of the Stardust Disaster, in which 48 young people died, is remembered by the families of the survivors.
• 25 February – Rioting in Dublin as Republican protestors condemn the right for a "Love Ulster" (Unionist) parade in the city.
• 11 March – The last ever competitive rugby international takes place at the oldest rugby venue in the world, Lansdowne Road, after 128 years of use, before the ground is redeveloped.
• 17 March – Over 400,000^[2] people take to the streets of Dublin to celebrate St. Patrick's Day as part of the world's largest St. Patrick's Day Festival.
• 16 April – Up to 120,000 people line the streets of Dublin to mark the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising.
• 23 April – The 2006 census takes place in the Republic of Ireland.
• 26 April – Prince Philip of the United Kingdom meets President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on a visit to Dublin.
• 14 May – Fianna Fáil celebrates its 80th anniversary with a day of celebrations at the Mansion House, Dublin.
• 15 May – The members of the Northern Ireland Assembly are recalled 3½ years after the assembly was suspended, with a view to electing an executive, and havingthe suspension lifted
• 21 May – Armed Gardaí forcibly remove thirty Afghan refugees who had sought sanctuary in St. Patrick's cathedral, Dublin after a one-week hunger-strike
• 22 May – Belfast City airport is renamed George Best Belfast City Airport on what would have been George Best's 60th birthday.
• 24 May – Prime Minister of Australia John Howard formally addresses Dáil Éireann.
• 16 June – The state funeral of the former Taoiseach Charles Haughey takes place in Dublin.
• 18 June – Irish Government announces plans to spend €3.8 billion on scientific research over 7 years to grow world-class research capabilities.
• 1 July – President Mary McAleese and leading representatives of all political parties in Ireland, north and south, mark the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme at the Irish National War Memorial Gardens, Dublin
• 7 July – Dublin Airport is evacuated for the second time in a week when an abandoned suspect package is found.
• 19 July – The warmest temperature this century (and since 1976) is recorded at Elphin, County Roscommon – 32.3 °C (90.14 °F). Ireland is one of many countries affected by the 2006 European heat wave. July 2006 is the warmest, on average, since records began in both the Republic and Northern Ireland.^[3]
• 19 July – CSO preliminary 2006 census findings indicate that the population of the Republic of Ireland is 4,234,925 million, an increase of 8.6% since 2002 and at its highest since the 1861 census. The total population for the island now stands at just under 6 million (estimates).
• 1 September – 150th anniversary of the birth of John Redmond, Leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
• 7 September – Mary Harney resigns as leader of the Progressive Democrats. She has led the party since October 1993.
• 11 September – Michael McDowell becomes, by consensus, leader of the Progressive Democrats
• 18 October – Northern Ireland overtake the Republic of Ireland in the Fifa rankings for the first time.^[4]
• 24 November – Loyalist Michael Stone, attempts to bomb the NI Assembly on the day nominations for first and deputy first minister are due to be made.^[5][6]
• 20 December – Dublin Port Tunnel officially opened.

Arts and literature

Colm Tóibín becomes the first Irish writer to win the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, with his novel The Master.

• 5 January – The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, a young people's novel by John Boyne, is published.
• 2 March – Ireland: Awakening, an historical novel by Edward Rutherfurd, is published.
• June – Ciaran Creagh's play Last Call, based loosely on the hanging of murderer Michael Manning in 1954 as witnessed by the playwright's father, is staged in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, where it is set.
• 13 June – Colm Tóibín's novel The Master (2004) wins the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. He is the first Irish writer to win. His short story collection Mothers and Sons is published this year.
• 26 July – Sesquicentennial anniversary of the birth of George Bernard Shaw.
• Autumn – Irish language teen drama series Aifric debuts on TG4 television.
• John Banville publishes his first crime novel under the pen name Benjamin Black, Christine Falls.

Music

Sport

Association football

• European Championship Qualifiers

Northern Ireland 0 : 3 Iceland (2 September)

Germany 1 : 0 Republic of Ireland (2 September)

Northern Ireland 3 : 2 Spain (6 September)

Denmark 0 : 0 Northern Ireland (7 October)

Cyprus 5 : 2 Republic of Ireland (7 October)

Northern Ireland 1 : 0 Latvia (11 October)

Republic of Ireland 1 : 1 Czech Republic (11 October)

Republic of Ireland 5 : 0 San Marino (15 November)

• Setanta Cup
  • Winners: Drogheda United
• League of Ireland
  • Winners: Shelbourne
• FAI Cup
  • Winners: Derry City

Athletics

Derval O'Rourke

• Ireland's Derval O'Rourke wins the women's 60m hurdles at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships, setting a new national record in the event, and becoming the first Irish woman to win an international senior sprint medal at this level.

Gaelic games

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship 2006

• • Sam Maguire Cup Winners: Kerry

(Kerry 4–15 : 3–5 Mayo)

• • Tommy Murphy Cup Winners: Louth

(Louth 3–14 : 1–11 Leitrim)

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 2006

• • Liam MacCarthy Cup Winners: Kilkenny

(Kilkenny 1–16 : 1–13 Cork)

• • Christy Ring Cup Winners: Antrim

(Antrim 5–13 : 1-07 Carlow)

• • Nicky Rackard Cup Winners: Derry

(Derry 5–15 : 1–11 Donegal)

Golf

• Europe won the 2006 Ryder Cup, held in Kildare Golf and Country Club, Straffan, Co. Kildare from 22 to 24 September.
• Nissan Irish Open is won by Thomas Bjørn (Denmark).

Mountaineering

• Ian McKeever climbed the 26 peaks of the island of Ireland in 98 hours.^[7]

Olympic Games

• The Republic of Ireland sent four athletes to the Winter Olympics, held in Turin, Italy.

Rugby union

• RBS Six Nations Championship
  • Ireland 26 – 16 Italy
  • France 43 – 31 Ireland
  • Ireland 31 – 5 Wales
  • Ireland 15 – 9 Scotland
  • England 24 – 28 Ireland

Ireland claim the triple crown for the second time in 3 years.

• 2005–06 Heineken Cup
  • Munster and Leinster both progress from the group stages. They play each other in the semi-finals, with Munster claiming victory. Munster then win the championship, defeating Biarritz 23 – 19

Deaths

Proinsias Ó Maonaigh died in March.

Michael O'Riordan died in May.

January to March

• 1 January – Hugh McLaughlin, publisher and inventor (born 1918).
• 12 January – Brendan Cauldwell, actor (born 1922).
• 15 January – Mella Carroll, former judge of the High Court (born 1934).
• 27 January – Dr. Peter Kavanagh, writer, scholar and publisher (born 1916).
• 31 January – Ruairí Brugha, Fianna Fáil TD, Member of the European Parliament, member of the Seanad (born 1917).
• 5 February – Dermot FitzGerald, businessman and philanthropist (born 1935).
• 23 February – Frank Filgas, cricketer (born 1926).
• 25 March – Bob Carlos Clarke, photographer (born 1950).
• 28 March – Proinsias Ó Maonaigh, fiddle player (born 1922).
• 30 March – John McGahern, writer (born 1934).

April to June

• 2 April – Paddy Crowley, soccer player (born 1932).
• 4 April – Denis Donaldson, former member of Sinn Féin who was exposed in 2005 as an MI5 spy (born 1950).
• 4 April – John de Courcy Ireland, maritime historian and political activist (born 1911).
• 25 April – John Kerr, singer (b. c1925).
• 11 May – Michael O'Leary, former Tánaiste and Labour Party leader (born 1936).
• 13 May – Desmond Surfleet, cricketer (born 1912).
• 16 May – Clare Boylan, author, journalist and critic (born 1948).
• 18 May – Michael O'Riordan, veteran of the Spanish Civil War and founder of the Communist Party of Ireland (born 1917).
• 26 May – Kevin O'Flanagan, physician, rugby and soccer player and Olympic official (born 1919).
• 19 May – Shay Gibbons, former international soccer player (born 1929).
• 10 June – Bobby Miller, Gaelic footballer and manager (born 1950).
• 13 June – Charles Haughey, former Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil (born 1925).
• 18 June – Luke Belton, former Fine Gael TD (born 1918).
• 20 June – Michael Herbert, former Fianna Fáil TD and MEP (born 1925).
• 21 June – Denis Faul, monsignor, Northern Ireland civil rights activist, chaplain to prisoners in Maze Prison during 1981 Irish Hunger Strike (born 1932).
• 30 June – Dave P. Tyndall, Jr., businessman (born 1917).

July to September

• 5 July – Lewis Glucksman, businessman, philanthropist, patron of the Lewis Glucksman Gallery at UCC (born 1925).
• 7 July – Mícheál Ó Domhnaill, folk and traditional musician (born 1952).
• 8 July – Michael Barrett, former Fianna Fáil TD (born 1927).
• 12 July – Noel Sheridan, 70, actor, artist, Director National College of Art and Design (1979–2003).
• 12 July – Joe Langan, 63, former Mayo Gaelic footballer.
• 23 July – Vere Wynne-Jones, 56, RTÉ broadcaster.
• 28 July – Billy Walsh, soccer player and manager (born 1921).
• 14 August – John Godley, 3rd Baron Kilbracken, author and journalist (born 1920).
• 17 August – Ken Goodall, international rugby player (born 1947).
• 14 September – Seán Ó Tuama, 80, writer and academic.
• 18 September – Seán Clancy, veteran of the Irish War of Independence (born 1901).
• 20 September – Tommy Traynor, soccer player (born 1933).
• September – Mick Haughney, Laois Gaelic footballer.

October to December

• 2 October – Thomas J. Fitzpatrick, former Ceann Comhairle and Fine Gael TD and Cabinet Minister (born 1918).
• 5 October – Jarlath Carey, 74, former Down Gaelic footballer.
• 10 October – Ham Lambert, cricketer and rugby player (born 1910).
• 16 October – Niall Andrews, Fianna Fáil TD and MEP (born 1937).
• 18 October – Liam Bennett, 55, former Wexford hurler.
• 9 November – Sam Stephenson, architect (born 1933).
• 16 November – Frank Durkan, lawyer in the United States (born 1930).
• 18 November – Roger Bolton, trade unionist in UK (born 1947).
• 4 December – Andy O'Brien, Fine Gael senator from County Cavan. (born 1915).
• 16 December – Tony O'Shaughnessy, former Cork hurler.

Full date unknown

• Seán Ó Coisdealbha, poet, playwright and actor (born 1930).
• Jimmy Phelan, Kilkenny hurler (born 1918).

References

External links

• 2006 at Reeling in the Years