2006 in Ireland

Events from the year 2006 in Ireland.

Incumbents

• President: Mary McAleese
• Taoiseach: Bertie Ahern (FF)
• Tánaiste:
• Mary Harney (PD) (until 13 September 2006)
• Michael McDowell (PD) (from 13 September 2006)
• Minister for Finance: Brian Cowen (FF)
• Chief Justice: John L. Murray
• Dáil: 29th
• Seanad: 22nd

Events

• January – A gay town councillor in Gorey, County Wexford, Malcolm Byrne, was the object of a vicious hate campaign which outed him in a local newspaper.
• 9 January – Steve Staunton was appointed the new manager of the Ireland football team, to be mentored by Bobby Robson as International Football Consultantant.
• 17 January – The Gaelic Athletic Association, Football Association of Ireland and Irish Rugby Football Union announced that a deal had been reached which would allow association football and rugby to be played in Croke Park in Dublin.

• 25 February – Rioting occurred in Dublin as Republican protestors condemned the right for a "Love Ulster" (Unionist) parade in the city.
• 11 March – The last competitive rugby international took place at the oldest rugby venue in the world, Lansdowne Road, after 128 years of use, before the ground was redeveloped.
• 17 March – Over 400,000 people took to the streets of Dublin to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day as part of the world's largest Saint Patrick's Day Festival.
• 16 April – Up to 120,000 people lined the streets of Dublin to mark the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising.
• 23 April – The 2006 census took place in Ireland.
• 26 April – Prince Philip of the United Kingdom met President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on a visit to Dublin.
• 21 May – Armed Gardaí forcibly removed 30 Afghan refugees who had sought sanctuary in Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin after a one-week hunger-strike
• 24 May – Prime Minister of Australia John Howard formally addressed Dáil Éireann.
• 16 June – The state funeral of the former Taoiseach Charles Haughey took place in Dublin.
• 18 June – The Government announced plans to spend €3.8 billion on scientific research over seven years to grow world-class research capabilities.
• 1 July – President Mary McAleese and leading representatives of all political parties in Ireland, north and south, marked the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme at the Irish National War Memorial Gardens, Dublin.
• 7 July – Dublin Airport was evacuated for the second time in a week when an abandoned suspect package was found.
• 19 July – The warmest temperature since 1976, 32.3 Ã‚°C (90.14 Ã‚°F), was recorded at Elphin, County Roscommon. Ireland was one of many countries affected by the 2006 European heat wave. July 2006 was the warmest, on average, since records began in both the Republic and Northern Ireland.
• 19 July – Preliminary 2006 census findings indicated that the population was 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).
• 7 September – Mary Harney resigned as leader of the Progressive Democrats. She led the party since October 1993.
• 11 September – Michael McDowell became leader of the Progressive Democrats by consensus.
• 18 October – Northern Ireland overtook the Republic of Ireland in the FIFA rankings for the first time.
• 14 December – The Zappone v. Revenue Commissioners legal case was decided in the High Court: a same-sex marriage in British Columbia was not recognised as a same-sex marriage in Ireland.

• 20 December – Dublin Port Tunnel officially opened, for heavy goods vehicles only. General traffic was admitted the following 28 January.

Arts and literature

• 5 January – The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, a young people's novel by John Boyne, was published.
• 2 March – ', a historical novel by Edward Rutherfurd, was 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, was staged in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, where it is set.
• 13 June – Colm Tóibín's novel The Master (2004) won the International Dublin Literary Award. He was the first Irish writer to win. His short story collection Mothers and Sons was published this year.
• 26 July – 150th anniversary of the birth of George Bernard Shaw.
• Autumn – Irish language teen drama series Aifric debuted on TG4 television.
• John Banville published his first crime novel under the pen name Benjamin Black, Christine Falls.
• Brian O'Loughlin's sculpture was installed at Pass of Kilbride on the M6 motorway in County Westmeath.

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

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