January To June
JANUARY
* Ulster Defence Regiment members Richard Wilson, Roy Smith and James Cochrane are killed by an IRA landmine attack at Burren Bridge, near Castlewellan, Co Down. This brings the Troubles death toll since 1969 over the 2,000 mark.
* US president Jimmy Carter introduces a grain embargo against the USSR in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In March he announces that the United States will boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
* Taoiseach Charles Haughey makes his now-famous belt- tightening speech when he addresses the nation on its worsening finances. “The figures that are just now becoming available to us show one thing very clearly. As a community we are living away beyond our means,” he says.
* The Derrynaflan chalice is discovered in a bog near Killenaule, Co Tipperary. Michael Webb and his son, also Michael, from Clonmel found the hoard with a metal detector. Lengthy litigation will follow, culminating in a 1987 Supreme Court ruling. It declares the hoard, worth an estimated £5.5 million, to be the property of the nation, saying the finders should be paid a reward of £50,000.
* 700,000 PAYE workers protest against tax system inequalities.
FEBRUARY
* The New Mexico penitentiary riot, one of the most violent prison riots in the US, takes place in the maximum security prison south of Santa Fe; 33 inmates die and more than 200 are treated for injuries.
* Bray District Court refuses to grant a music and singing licence for two Boomtown Rats homecoming concerts at Leopardstown because of fears for crowd safety. Singer Bob Geldof criticises the decision, saying the band, which is on a world tour, has never had a stampede at a gig.
The impasse continues for two weeks and the band eventually plays at Leixlip Castle to an estimated 14,000 fans. A few months later, I Don't Like Mondayswins the best pop song and outstanding lyric category at the 25th Ivor Novello awards.
* M-19 guerrillas capture the Dominican embassy in Bogota and hold 57 hostages. The siege lasts 61 days and hostages include more than a dozen ambassadors as well as diplomats. Hostages are gradually released and the siege ends in April when the hostage takers receive more than $2 million and board a flight to Havana with 12 diplomatic hostages. The hostages are released on arrival.
* Michael O’Kennedy’s budget introduces some of the belt- tightening measures forewarned by taoiseach Charles Haughey in January.
As well as price increases on the old reliables, a 300 per cent increase in duty on soft drinks is introduced and an increase in excise duty adds £130 to the price of a new small car.
MARCH
* Nationalist leader Robert Mugabe wins a sweeping election victory with his Zanu party and becomes prime minister of Zimbabwe.
It is the beginning of a controversial ruling period which continues to this day. In 1987, he assumes the new office of executive president of Zimbabwe and abolishes the post of prime minister. That post has since been revived and is now held by Morgan Tsvangirai, while Mugabe is president in a powersharing arrangement.
* Strumpet Citymakes its debut on RTÉ and is shown in seven episodes. The best-selling novel by James Plunkett about labour unrest has been adapted for RTÉ Television by Hugh Leonard. The cast features Peter O'Toole, Peter Ustinov, David Kelly and Bryan Murray.
* Archbishop Óscar Romero is killed by gunmen while he celebrates Mass in San Salvador. He is remembered as an outspoken campaigner for human rights and social justice in the strife-torn country. Some 250,000 people attend his funeral six days later but chaos ensues when gunmen open fire on the mourners, killing more than 40 people.
APRIL
* Pte Thomas Barrett from Cork and Pte Derek Smallhorne from Dublin are shot dead in Lebanon while on peacekeeping duty after their United Nations convoy is stopped by armed members of a Lebanese militia.
A third man, Pte John O’Mahoney, is also abducted but manages to escape.
Marion Price, who was convicted with her sister Dolours for involvement in the 1973 London car-bombing is released from Armagh prison on humanitarian grounds, due to health problems.
* Kramer vs Kramertakes the Oscar for best picture at the 52nd Academy Awards. Dustin Hoffman wins best actor and Meryl Streep takes the best supporting actress for their roles in the movie. Sally Field takes the best actress Oscar for Norma Rae. Also this month, the Pulitzer Prize is awarded to Norman Mailer for Executioner's Song, a fictionalisation of the life of death row inmate Gary Gilmore.
* President Carter says a secret attempt to free American hostages held in Iran’s capital, Tehran, has failed, with the death of eight soldiers. The 53 US citizens have been held hostage by Islamic militants in the US embassy since the previous November. The hostage crisis will not end until the following January following intense diplomatic activity.
MAY
* Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito dies and his funeral ceremony in Belgrade becomes one of the world’s biggest diplomatic and media events, with more than 140 state delegations.
* A siege of the Iranian embassy in London ends with five of the six militants killed and 19 hostages freed. The gunmen belong to a dissident Iranian group opposed to Ayatollah Khomeini, the religious leader who came to power in the previous year. They have been seeking the release of 91 political prisoners held in Iran as well as an aircraft to take them and the hostages out of Britain.
* The south-western city of Kwangju (or Gwangju) in South Korea became a centre for pro-democracy demonstrations, with students and their professors leading demonstrations against the new junta. Airborne and army troops of South Korea retake the city in what becomes known as the Kwangju Massacre. Official figures put the death toll at 200 but other estimates put the figure at 1,000 to 2,000. It will take more than a decade before democratic rule returns to South Korea.
JUNE
* The Cable News Network (CNN) founded by Ted Turner begins broadcasting from Atlanta headquarters with studios in Washington, New York and Los Angeles. It is the first TV channel to provide 24-hour news coverage.
* Senator Gemma Hussey proposes a Bill which would make it a criminal offence for a man to rape his wife. Marital rape becomes an offence 10 years later.
* President Carter signs proclamation which requires 18- 25-year-olds to register for a peacetime military draft, in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
