1997 in Ireland

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See also:	1997 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1997 List of years in Ireland

Events from the year 1997 in Ireland.

Incumbents

• President: Mary Robinson (Labour) (until 12 September), Mary McAleese (Fianna Fáil) (starting 11 November)
• Taoiseach: John Bruton (Fine Gael) (until 26 June), Bertie Ahern (Fianna Fáil) (starting 26 June)

Events

• 8 January – Russia sought to widen its ban on the importation of Irish beef due to Bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
• 27 February – The law providing for divorce came into effect.
• 6 March – Michael Lowry resigned as a member of the Fine Gael party.
• 7 March – President Mary Robinson met Pope John Paul II in the Vatican.
• 17 March – The new national independent radio station, Radio Ireland, went on the air.
• 8 April – Author Frank McCourt was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his book Angela's Ashes.
• 6 June – In the general election, Fianna Fáil won a plurality of seats and formed a coalition government with the Progressive Democrats. Bertie Ahern replaced John Bruton as Taoiseach, and Mary Harney of the Progressive Democrats became Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade, and Employment.
• 12 June – President Mary Robinson was appointed UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
• 16 June – National University of Ireland, Maynooth came into existence with the commencement of the Universities Act, 1997.
• 25 June – Film makers arrived for two months of shooting at Curracloe, County Wexford to re-create the D-Day Normandy invasion scenes for Steven Spielberg's film Saving Private Ryan.
• 3 July – Taoiseach Bertie Ahern met United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair for the first time.
• 6–11 July – 1997 nationalist riots in Northern Ireland: There was violence in nationalist areas after an Orange Order parade was allowed down the Garvaghy Road by the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Portadown as part of the Drumcree conflict.
• 9 July – Counsel for Charles Haughey admitted that the former Taoiseach accepted £1.3 million from businessman Ben Dunne.
• 20 July – The Irish Republican Army instituted a second ceasefire.
• 12 September – Mary Robinson resigned as President to assume her new role as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
• 18 September – The converted Collins Barracks re-opened to house the National Museum of Ireland's Decorative Arts and History collections.
• 7 October – Substantial all-party talks began in Northern Ireland.
• 1 November – The Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal Act, 1997, took effect.
• 7 November – Dick Spring confirmed that he was resigning as leader of the Labour Party.
• 11 November – Mary McAleese was inaugurated as the eighth President of Ireland, the first time in the world that one woman succeeded another as elected head of state.
• 13 November – Ruairi Quinn won the leadership of the Labour Party.
• 27 December – The Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright was shot dead in the Maze prison by members of the Irish National Liberation Army.

Arts and literature

• 3 May – Ireland staged the Eurovision Song Contest, hosted by Ronan Keating and Carrie Crowley. The Irish entry, Mysterious Woman sung by Marc Roberts, came second.
• 4 July – Conor McPherson's play The Weir premièred at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in London.
• 13 July – Neil Jordan's film The Butcher Boy is released in Ireland.
• 24 November – The first episode aired of the RTÉ television programme, A Scare at Bedtime.
• 31 December – Jim Sheridan's film The Boxer was released, starring Daniel Day-Lewis.
• Raidió Teilifís Éireann rebranded its television channel Network 2 as "N2".
• John Banville's novel The Untouchable was published.

Sport

Gaelic games

• Kerry won the National Football League, beating Cork 3–7 to 1–8 in the final.
• Kerry won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship winners for the first time since 1986, following a 0–13 to 1–7 victory over Mayo in the final.
• Limerick beat Galway 1–12 to 1–9 in the National Hurling League final.
• Clare beat Tipperary by 0–20 to 2–13 in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final. It was their second title in three years.

Golf

• The Murphy's Irish Open was won by Colin Montgomerie (Scotland).

Snooker

• Ken Doherty became world snooker champion following an 18 frames to 12 victory over Stephen Hendry at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield.

Soccer

• Shelbourne FC won the FAI Cup for the fifth time.
• The first ever League of Ireland match to be broadcast live on television was from Tolka Park between Shelbourne F.C. and Derry City F.C. on Network 2.

Births

• 15 January – Alex Cardillo, actor

Full date unknown

• Aebh Kelly, singer

Deaths

January to June

• 31 January – John Joseph Scanlan, second Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu (born 1906).
• 2 February – Seán Ó Síocháin, former Gaelic Athletic Association president.
• February – Reg Ryan, soccer player (born 1925).
• 17 April – Chaim Herzog, sixth President of Israel (1983–1993) (born 1918).
• 12 March – William Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel, peer and Labour politician (born 1906).
• 2 May – Robin Kinahan, Unionist politician and businessman (born 1916).
• 9 May – Thomas FitzGerald, Earl of Offaly (born 1974).
• 23 May – Noel Browne, politician and former Cabinet Minister (born 1915).
• 24 May – Edward Mulhare, actor (born 1923).
• 16 June – Michael O'Herlihy, television director (born 1929).
• 18 June – Julia Clifford, fiddle player and traditional musician (born 1914).

July to December

• 25 September – Jim Kemmy, Labour Party and Democratic Socialist Party TD (born 1936).
• 20 December – Jim Gibbons, former Fianna Fáil TD, Member of the European Parliament and Cabinet Minister (born 1924).
• 29 December – John Graham, Irish Republican Army activist in the 1940s (born 1915).

Full date unknown

• Mervyn Wall, novelist and dramatist (born 1908).

External links

• 1997 at Reeling in the Years