Saturday/Sunday
THE establishment of a broadcasting commission to regulate and set standards for all broadcasting bodies; the protection of major sporting events from being bought up for subscription or pay per view television; and the abolition of the Independent Radio and Television Commission are among the proposals for new broadcasting legislation contained in a Government memorandum seen by The Irish Times.
British Nuclear Fuels told a conference on Sellafield, held in Drogheda, Co Louth, that a major accident could not happen at the nuclear reprocessing plant because of the safety controls in place.
The Grand Master of the Orange Order, Mr Robert Saulters, stood outside a Catholic church in Harryville, Ballymena, to offer his support to Mass goers as loyalist protesters gathered nearby.
The headstone on the grave of Del Garda Jerry McCabe, who was shot dead during an attempted armed robbery in Co Limerick last year, was vandalised for the second time in one week.
Monday
The Attorney General advised the Government that planning permission has in fact been required since mid 1994 for venues other than courthouses which are used for court purposes.
The former Minister for Health, Mr Brendan Howlin, rejected claims made to the hepatitis C tribunal that he ignored advice from Department officials to set up a judicial inquiry when the contamination scandal broke in 1994.
The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Desmond Connell, criticised overcrowding in prisons and said it "gratuitously" increased the severity of the sentence imposed on offenders.
The IRA launched a mortar attack on an RUC patrol in west Belfast. No one was injured.
Tuesday
A cut of one percentage point in income tax and a similar cut in employees' PRSI contributions are among the elements agreed for the Budget. The changes will mean almost £400 extra a year to those on an average wage.
The Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, ordered the release from Portlaoise prison of a Belfast man, Mr James Anthony Corry, wanted by the German authorities in connection with the Osnabruck mortar attack last June. Mr Corry has declared himself an Irish citizen and cannot be extradited because there is no reciprocal agreement between Germany and Ireland.
A pub disc jockey, Mr Andrew Pountley, was accused in Manchester of abducting, raping and murdering a five year old Irish girl, Rosemary McCann, the daughter of his former girlfriend.
Wednesday
Three men were shot and injured when they went to a Co Cavan cottage to enforce an eviction order. A tense stand off with gardai followed.
The first application for a divorce since the 1995 divorce referendum was made in the High Court, Dublin. The male applicant was understood to be in his late 60s and terminally ill.
The Minister of State for Energy, Mr Emmet Stagg, said he was "very concerned" at the safety of a proposed nuclear waste storage facility proposed for Sellafield.
Thursday
The siege at the Co Cavan farmhouse neared its close as two rifles, a bayonet and some ammunition were handed over to gardai.
The Supreme Court started to hear the first case involving prisoners challenging the lawfulness of their detention following last year's controversy about the composition of the Special Criminal Court.
The former archbishop of Cashel, Dr Thomas Morris, died at the age of 82. He was one of only two surviving Irish bishops who had attended all the sessions of Vatican II.