1998

Galway won the All Ireland Senior Football Champions
Offaly won the All Ireland Senior Hurling Champions

INVENTIONS IN 1998 INCLUDED

Viagra

FAMOUS IRISH MOVIES INCLUDED

The Butcher Boy
Dancing at Lughnasa
The General

ALSO THAT YEAR

Good Friday peace agreement in Northern Ireland
Bill Clinton denies he had “sexual relations” with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. starting the Lewinsky scandal and investigations
US launch cruise missile strikes against al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan.
Ireland gets a new TV station in 1998. TV3 opens for business in September.
Car-clamping starts in Dublin this year.
Ireland’s economy booms in 1998. Unemployment falls rapidly as economic growth reaches 11%. Inward investment rises to record levels, as companies like Dell in Limerick expand their operations.
1998 is a difficult year for Bill Clinton. Allegations of an affair with a White House intern lead to the biggest scandal of his career.
Eighteen hours after the talks deadline, negotiating parties reach agreement at Stormont. After years of failed political initiatives, history is made on Good Friday 1998.
The Agreement will be put to a North/South poll. Unionists are deeply divided on the issues. 94% of voters in the Republic back the Agreement. In the North, there is 71% support.
England play Argentina at the World Cup Finals in France. After David Beckham is sent off, the match ends in a penalty shoot-out. France play Brazil in the Final. The host nation celebrates its first-ever World Cup.
Thousands of Gardai get sick for better pay in the ‘blue flu’ protest.
The Tour de France comes to Ireland in July. Despite revelations of drug-taking by cyclists, the event attracts big crowds throughout the country.
Irish swimmer Michelle de Bruin also fights drugs allegations. She is banned from international competition for four years.
Ireland’s young soccer players are the heroes of the year. The Under-16 team wins the European Championship. Manager Brian Kerr celebrates a double triumph as his Under-18 team also wins in Europe.
14 January – The Planning Tribunal opens in Dublin Castle.
27 February – Republic of Ireland qualifies for entry into the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union.
15 March – Former Fine Gael Minister Hugh Coveney dies in a fall from a cliff in County Cork.
10 April – Good Friday: the British and Irish governments and all the political parties in the Northern Ireland (except the Democratic Unionist Party sign the Belfast Agreement.
22 May – The Good Friday Agreement is endorsed in a referendum by people north and south of the border.
3 July – The boyband Westlife are formed.
15 August – 29 people die in a bomb explosion near the centre of Omagh, County Tyrone, caused by the Real IRA.
4 September – USA President Bill Clinton begins his second official visit to the Island of Ireland, his first was in 1995.
20 September – TV3 goes on the air.
26 November – Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Oireachtas.
30 November – Unemployment falls by 20% with the number of people in work rising by 100,000.
12 December – Members of the Labour Party and Democratic Left agree to merge.
26 December – Great Boxing Day Storm (‘Hurricane Stephen’): Severe gale force winds hit north west Ireland causing widespread disruption to services.
31 December – The Punt is traded for the last time as the Euro currency is launched.
Bill Clinton is among the visitors to Omagh. Huge crowds greet the Clintons throughout Ireland.

The Christmas number 1 is the Spice Girls ‘Goodbye’

The Spice Girls – Stop
Jay-Z – Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)
B*witched – C’est La Vie
Catatonia – Road Rage
The Cardigans – My Favourite Game
U2 – The Sweetest Thing
George Michael – Outside
The Corrs – So Young
Massive Attack – Teardrop