Saturday/Sunday
The coalition parties' presidential candidate, Prof Mary McAleese, declared her support for the SDLP after a weekend report on a leaked Department of Foreign Affairs memo implying she was sympathetic to Sinn Fein. She said the document
???ein pact had been "totally denuded" of its context.
Thousands of asylum-seekers had to queue for hours in the rain outside the Department of Justice offices to renew their identity cards. A Department spokesman said it "could not be blamed for the weather" and it was not possible to process the cards during normal office hours.
A man and woman died and two men were injured in a fire in a Dublin city centre flat. Residents at Liberty House in the north inner city blamed new double-glazed windows for hampering the rescue attempt.
Eight people died in road crashes in Dublin, Roscommon, Waterford and Westmeath.
The Governor of Mountjoy, Mr John Lonergan, told a Simon Community conference that the weak were being left behind as others found success. He said he could not "find as much compassion (in Ireland) as would lick a stamp".
Monday
The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, shook hands with Republican leaders on a visit to Stormont. The handshake with Sinn Fein leader, Mr Gerry Adams, chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, vice-president, Mr Pat Doherty, and administrator, Ms Siobhan O'Hanlon, happened in private, without cameras.
Later, Mr Blair was booed and jeered by about three dozen loyalists on a supermarket walkabout.
Independent presidential candidate, Mr Derek Nally, E's Questions and Answers. He Mr Nally questioned whether Prof McAleese was a "proper person" to be President, following the weekend report linking her with Sinn Fein.
Prof McAleese said she had never voted for Sinn Fein and had always been opposed to violence. Mr Nally said if she had not said the things attributed to her in the document, she should sue the Department official.
An English soccer supporter who threw debris during the Lansdowne Road riot in 1995 was ordered to pay £2,500 to charity and banned from entering Ireland again.
The Republic of Ireland was drawn against Belgium for a two-match World Cup qualifying playoff to reach the finals in France next summer.
Tuesday
Mr Nally appeared to back down from his attack on Prof McAleese, saying that he accepted she was not sympathetic to Sinn Fein.
The Government was forced to reverse its decision not to support Louth residents in their legal action against Sellafield. The U-turn followed a threat by Independent deputies not to support the coalition.
A court in Amsterdam was told that a Dublin man facing a charge of murdering journalist, Veronica Guerin, will contest efforts to extradite him to Ireland. Mr Brian Meehan was remanded in custody for 16 days.
Wednesday
An Irish Times/MRBI opinion poll indicated that the vote for Ms Adi Roche had fallen by nine percentage points to 13 per cent of first preferences since the last poll. The survey showed a small drop in support for Prof McAleese.
The first preference vote for each of the five candidates was: Prof McAleese 32 per cent, Ms Mary Banotti 24 per cent, Ms Roche 13 per cent, Mr Derek Nally 7 per cent and Dana, Mrs Rosemary Scallon, 7 per cent.
In the early hours of the morning, Mr Nally withdrew his acceptance of Prof McAleese's denial that she supported Sinn Fein. In a statement issued at 1 a.m. he said he agreed with one of his advisers, Mr John Caden, who in an article in The Irish Times insisted that Mr Nally did not accept her denial.
Prof McAleese advised Mr Nally to reflect on the advice he was getting.
Former PD chairman, Mr Michael McDowell, and the party's former leader, Mr Desmond O'Malley, said they were opposing the Government proposal on Cabinet confidentiality because it did not go far enough.
The former Democratic Left Senator, Mr Michael Enright, and three young men from the Wicklow area were killed in a road crash outside Arklow, Co Wicklow. Gardai had received reports that a car carrying three men was travelling at high speed and without any lights shortly before the collision.
Thursday
The Sinn Fein leader, Mr Gerry Adams, said that he would vote for Prof McAleese. She responded that she had "no view one way or the other" on his comments.
Gardai arrested a 57-year-old man after a fatal shooting in a house in north Dublin. The victim was named locally as Mr Fergus O'Brien (28), a barman who worked in Howth.
