A selection of photographs from 2005
1. Olukunle Elukanlo arriving back in Ireland in April, having had his deportation reversed by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, after his classmates at Palmerstown Community School, in west Dublin, campaigned for his return so he could sit his Leaving Certificate. He was very happy with his results in August. Photograph: David Sleator
2. Thomas Beatty and Hilary Tighe, residents of Leas Cross, in Swords, Co Dublin, protesting in June against being moved out of the nursing home. The HSE decided to move its public patients from Leas Cross, which subsequently closed, following the exposure by RTÉ’s Prime Time programme of the home’s poor patient care. Photograph: David Sleator
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3. Bang bang, they shot him down: Minister for Defence Willie “The Kid” O’Dea infamously posed with an automatic pistol at the Curragh in Kildare in November, at a time of successive gangland murders. Did he feel lucky? Not after the opposition and public expressed their reaction. Photograph: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin
4. Family and friends watch as the remains of Liam Lawlor draped in the tricolour leave St Patricks Church, Lucan, Co Dublin, after his funeral in October. Mr Lawlor’s son Niall said apologies in newspapers over the coverage of his father’s death “still doesn’t really replace the gut-wrenching aspects of what they seemed to so maliciously look to put out”. Photograph: David Sleator
5. Two New Orleans residents float past an armed policeman in New Orleans, about 36 after Hurricane Katrina caused the city to flood. Photograph: Jason Reed/Reuters
6. Walking wounded leaving Edgware Road tube station after the London bombings of July 7th, which killed more than 50 people. Photograph: Edmond Terakopian/PA
7. Bee-spoke suit: Philip McCabe attempted to break the world record for a “beard of bees” in Tipperary last June. Photograph: Haydn West/PA
8. Where’s Wally?: Cork and Galway fans strain against the sun during the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Final at Croke Park in September. Cork won their 30th All-Ireland, beating Galway by 1-21 to 1-16. “The next challenge for Cork is to see how good they can become,” wrote Brian Whelahan in The Irish Times. Photograph: Alan Betson
9. Brian O’Driscoll tangles with Josh Lewsey during the Six Nations match with England. Ireland won this match, but despite starting the season with high hopes, lost to Wales. And if Ireland had a bad year, O’Driscoll’s was disastrous. Photograph: Eric Luke
10. Welcome back: the landmark Bewleys Oriental Café on Dublin’s Grafton Street reopened in May after extensive refurbishment. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh
11. Perpendicular parking: At the Strand Road in Sandymount in May a motorist hit reverse by mistake and reversed over a car park wall. Photograph: Frank Miller
12. A group of children watch members of the Chinese Theatre Circle on the East Pier in Dún Laoghaire. The group, from Singapore, performed at the opening of the Dún Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures in August. Photograph: Frank Miller
13. Wolfgang Hoffmann, the new director of the Dublin Fringe Festival. Despite abseiling down the side of Project Arts Centre in August, he told The Irish Times “I didn’t want to take any risks.” Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
14. Pupils from St Michael’s Loreto Convent in Navan, Co Meath, hold hands at the removal of Claire McCluskey to the Church of The Nativity, Rosnaree. Claire was one of five schoolgirls killed in a crash in May involving a school bus. Photograph: Eric Luke