2008 in Ireland

2008
in
Ireland

Centuries:
  • 19th
  • 20th
  • 21st
Decades:
  • 1980s
  • 1990s
  • 2000s
  • 2010s
  • 2020s
See also:2008 in Northern Ireland
Other events of 2008
List of years in Ireland

Events from the year 2008 in Ireland.

Incumbents

Events

January

  • 1 January – Philip Hogarty (aged 19) became the first road death on Irish roads in 2008 after being struck by a Garda patrol car in Tallaght. He was chairman of the Irish Chess Union.[1]
  • 2 January – after 36 years in business, the Burlington Hotel in Dublin closed, with the loss of 400 jobs.[2]
  • 4 January – an unforecast blizzard hit the country, leading to the heaviest snowfall in Ireland since December 2000.
  • 8 January – Clare O'Leary became the first Irish woman to reach the South Pole.
  • 9 January – after days of heavy rainfall in the South West serious flooding occurred in Fermoy and Mallow with parts of Mallow under 1.3 m of water.[3]
  • 13 January – following months of protest, Aer Lingus completed their last Shannon to Heathrow flight.
  • 16 January – Wayne O'Donoghue was released from prison after serving three years of a four-year jail term for the manslaughter of Robert Holohan (aged 11) in January 2005.[4]
  • 21 January – €4bn was wiped off the Irish Stock Exchange in the world stock market downturn.
  • 23 January – the brother of a Real IRA leader was one of two Irish citizens arrested in Lithuania on suspicion of buying firearms and explosives for the Real IRA.[5]
  • 25 January – the closure of the Jacob's plant in Tallaght, County Dublin, was announced, with the loss of 220 jobs by March 2009.[6]
  • 26 January – Martin Foley, aka "The Viper", was shot in Dublin possibly as part of an ongoing feud between criminal gangs. It was the fifth failed attempt on Mr Foley's life.[7]

February

March

  • 5 March – a jury found Brian Kearney guilty of the murder of his wife, Siobhán Kearney, at their home in Goatstown in February 2006.[11]
  • 12 March – Libertas lobby group launched a campaign called Facts, not politics which advocated a No vote in the Treaty of Lisbon referendum.[12]
  • 14 March – the Economic and Social Research Institute predicted that economic growth in Ireland for 2008 will be 1.6%, the lowest level since 1988. It was also forecast that no new jobs will be added to the Irish economy for the first time since 1991.[13]
  • 26 March – farmer Michael Hanrahan, 60, and his son Denis Hanrahan, 27, were found shot dead at their home in Moyvane, County Kerry.

April

  • 2 April – Bertie Ahern announced that he would resign as Taoiseach on 6 May.
  • 8 April – Brian Cowen was elected as the seventh leader of Fianna Fáil.
  • 12 April – Patrick Hillery, sixth Irish President, former government minister, and European Commissioner, died aged 84.
  • 15 April – the legal case of broadcaster Pat Kenny and his neighbour, Gerard Charlrton, involving the claiming of an area of land near their home, was settled in court. It was decided that Kenny would pay an undisclosed sum of money for the land called Gorse Hill.
  • 17 April – Ciarán Cannon became the leader of the Progressive Democrats
  • 21 April – it was revealed that four laptop computers belonging to Bank of Ireland and containing personal information of approximately 10,000 customers were stolen between June and October 2007.
  • 30 April – Bertie Ahern became the sixth Irish leader to address both houses of the United States Congress.

May

June

July

August

September

October

  • 2 October – for the first time in its history since 1922, Seanad Éireann began debate of a bill after midnight, the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Act 2008 which it passed at 08:00.
  • 7 October – Dave McDonald from observatory J65 discovered asteroid 2008 TM9, the second minor planet found by observation from Ireland since the first in 1848.
  • 14 October – Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan unveiled Budget 2009. It became the toughest Budget in recent years and also the most controversial. He announced that the automatic entitlement of over 70s old age pensioners to a medical card would be scrapped, all workers would be exposed to a 1% income level, and an increase in college fees would come into effect.
  • 21 October – following country-wide outrage, Brian Cowen increased the higher income thresholds for the elderly that would allow 95% of those over 70 to retain their full medical cards.
  • 22 October – over 25,000 old age pensioners and angry students marched on Dáil Éireann to protest at their treatment in the government budget.
  • 25 October – two adults and two teenagers from Bristol, England were killed in a plane crash in the Wicklow Mountains.[15]

November

  • 6 November – €750 million worth of cocaine was seized off the Irish coast in Operation Seabight.
  • 8 November – rugby player Shane Geoghegan was shot dead outside his home in Limerick in a case of mistaken identity. The murder led to a nationwide appeal to the end of gangland killing in Ireland.

December

  • 6 December – 2008 Irish pork crisis: All Irish pork products were recalled following an announcement that animal feed used since 1 September might contain between 80 and 200 more times dioxins than the recognised safety limit.
  • 11 December – Irish pork was confirmed to be safe and began to return to the market.
  • 15 December – Celine Cawley, founder and manager of the advertising agency, Toytown Films and a former Bond girl (A View to a Kill), was found murdered at her home in Howth, Dublin.[16]
  • 20 December – the Bishop of Cloyne, John Magee was asked to resign after a report on child abuse in his diocese found the Roman Catholic Church had not responded appropriately to abuse allegations.[17]
  • 31 December – three Nenagh teenagers became the final Irish road traffic accident victims of 2008, a year which ended with the least such deaths since records began.[18]

Year long

  • Scouting in Ireland celebrated its centenary. Events to celebrate the centenary were planned throughout the year with the National Jamboree and an exhibition in the National Museum as highlights.

Arts and literature

Sport

Association football

  • Internationals
6 February – Ireland 0–1 Brazil
24 May – Ireland 1–1 Serbia
6 September – Georgia 1–2 Ireland
10 September – Montenegro 0–0 Ireland
15 October – Ireland 1–0 Cyprus

Athletics

Gaelic games

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship 2008 (Winners – Tyrone)
National Football League 2008 (Winners – Derry)
All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 2008 (Winners – Kilkenny)
National Hurling League 2008 (Winners – Tipperary)

Golf

Rugby league

2008 Rugby League World Cup
Ireland reach the final 6 knockout stage

Rugby union

2008 Six Nations Championship
2 February – Ireland 16–11 Italy
9 February – France 26–21 Ireland
23 February – Ireland 34–13 Scotland
8 March – Ireland 12–16 Wales
15 March – England 33–0 Ireland

Ireland come fourth, their lowest finishing position since 1999

2007–08 Heineken Cup
Munster champions – Toulouse 13–16 Munster

Olympics

Beijing Olympics
Ireland at the 2008 Summer Olympics – 3 medals
Ireland at the 2008 Summer Paralympics – 5 medals

Deaths

January to July

July to December

See also

References

  1. "Philip Hogarty 1988–2008". Rathmines Chess Club: News and Events. Archived from the original on 7 January 2008. Retrieved 8 February 2008.
  2. "Dublin's Burlington Hotel closes today". RTÉ Business. 2 January 2008. Retrieved 8 February 2008.
  3. RTÉ News
  4. Labanyi, David (16 January 2008). "Wayne O'Donoghue released from prison". The Irish Times. Retrieved 8 February 2008.
  5. McDonald, Henry (23 January 2008). "Real IRA man's brother arrested in Lithuania weapons sting". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 January 2008. Retrieved 8 February 2008.
  6. "Jacob Fruitfield factory to lay off 220 staff". The Irish Times. 25 January 2008. Retrieved 8 February 2008.
  7. "Criminal Foley remains critical after shooting". RTÉ News. 26 January 2008. Retrieved 8 February 2008.
  8. McGinn, Dan (1 February 2008). "Taoiseach bound for Ballymena". The Belfast Telegraph. p. 2.
  9. "Irish criminal shot and killed in Spain". The Irish Times. 4 February 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
  10. McNeilly, Claire (5 February 2008). "Dublin funds new Orange post". The Belfast Telegraph. p. 5.
  11. "Brian Kearney given life sentence for murder of Siobhán". Irish Independent. 5 March 2008. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  12. "Anti-Lisbon treaty campaign was launched". RTÉ News. 12 March 2008. Archived from the original on 14 April 2009. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  13. "RTÉ News: 20-year low in economic growth predicted". RTÉ. 14 March 2008. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  14. "Magee reveals her winning secret". RTÉ. 9 August 2008. Archived from the original on 2 September 2008. Retrieved 9 August 2008.
  15. Fatal plane crash investigated RTÉ News, 2008-10-28.
  16. "Witnesses to Howth murder sought". RTÉ. 15 December 2008. Archived from the original on 18 January 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2009.
  17. "Call for Bishop of Cloyne to consider position". RTÉ. 20 December 2008. Archived from the original on 23 December 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2009.
  18. "Three teenagers die in car crash". RTÉ. 1 January 2009. Archived from the original on 1 January 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2009.
  19. "2XM Promises to take risks". Hot Press. 18 November 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
  20. "Matches – 2010 FIFA World Cup". FIFA. Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
  21. GAA star dies on night out Irish Independent, 2008-01-28.
  22. Hypnotist Paul Goldin dies in Dublin Irish Times, 2008-02-13.
  23. Jimmy Faulkner RTÉ, 2008-03-05. Archived 8 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  24. Sideline View . . . with Martin Kiely Archived 16 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine Limerick Leader, 2008-03-12.
  25. Brendan O'Brien RTÉ, 2008-04-04. Archived 8 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  26. Former Ombudsman Michael Mills dies RTÉ News, 2008-04-14.
  27. "Billy Wright's killer dies of cancer". 28 June 2008.
  28. Irish Echo Archived 2 September 2008 at Archive.today
  29. The Times (subscription required)
  30. Cowen leads tributes to Nollaig Ó Gadhra Irish Times, 2008-08-15.
  31. Dubliners Musician Ronnie Drew Dies The Kerryman, 2008.
  32. Namibia: Former Breweries MD Passes Away All Africa, 2008-09-22.
  33. Irish Times' Paul Tansey dies suddenly RTÉ News, 2008-09-22.
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