Saturday/Sunday
It was agreed at a special meeting of the three Coalition leaders over the weekend that Government spending plans for next year will allow close to £250 million in tax cuts in the January Budget.
Because of pressure of EU business, the three leaders met the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, on Sunday and agreed, in principle, to cut £120 million off the estimates and a further £40-£50 million off capital spending.
Aid agencies along the Rwandan border, including Trocaire and Concern, were warned by UN officials to prepare for another exodus of 100,000 refugees from Zaire.
Micheal O'Hehir, the renowned radio and television sports commentator, died on Sunday in Dublin, aged 76, after a long illness. Mr O'Hehir was best known for his commentaries on GAA matches and horse racing.
Monday
The British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, replied privately to proposals from Mr John Hume designed to secure a second IRA ceasefire.
Mr Major's response was expected to be published shortly, but it was understood the Prime Minister had rejected demands for Sinn Fein's automatic entry to multi party talks following a restoration of the ceasefire, and the party's acceptance of the Mitchell principles.
Mrs Owen, the Minister for Justice, refused to comment on criticisms made by the leadership of the Garda Representative Association in an editorial in the Garda Review on her handling of the Judge Dominic Lynch delisting affair.
Following his recent libel victory, it was ruled that the former Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, will not have to pay an extra £200,000 sterling arising out of his action against the Sunday Times.
Tuesday
Government sources in Dublin insisted that Mr Major's response to the Hume/Adams proposals for a new IRA ceasefire, coupled with a statement from Downing Street, amounted to a holding operation.
Hopes of a renewed ceasefire were dented by Britain's response.
It was estimated the French blockade was costing Irish exporters more than £3 million a day.
A national nurses' strike was on the cards after an angry meeting in Dublin when 400 shop stewards made it clear they wanted a completely new pay deal and not the £50 million pay package offered two weeks earlier.
The doctors treating Mother Teresa of Calcutta said she would have to undergo a coronary angiography but not for a few days.
Wednesday
There was concern as talks on a new national pay agreement were reported to be close to breakdown. It was reported that there was no significant movement by employers and unions away from their opening positions the week before. Both sides were asked to rethink and resume talks on Monday.
After some confusion over the date of polling, hundreds of voters on the three Aran Islands, as well as Inishturk and Inishbofin, off Co Galway, were given another chance to go to the polls, this time with voters in the rest of the State.
Ms Roisin McAliskey (25), daughter of the civil rights campaigner and former Mid Ulster MP, Ms Bernadette McAliskey, protested her innocence when she appeared in a London magistrates' court on an extradition warrant accusing her of involvement in an IRA bombing in Germany earlier this year.
Senator Liam Cosgrave, of Fine Gael, was elected Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, replacing Mr Liam Naughten, from Roscommon, who was killed in a car crash.
Thursday
The Government prepared to engage in intensive Anglo Irish activity over the next few days to salvage the damaged prospect of a renewed IRA ceasefire over the Christmas period. This followed the calculated rebuff to the Taoiseach and the Tanaiste by the British Prime Minister with the publication of a unilateral statement in the House of Commons of the British government's terms for a new ceasefire.
A turnout of about 35 per cent in the bail referendum was estimated, due to bad weather, confusion and apathy. However, Government and opposition parties were confident the referendum would be carried.
The Garda Press Office advised people who came into the possession of counterfeit £20 notes to bring them to the attention of the Garda. The counterfeiters, with links to Dublin criminals, were thought to be behind a pre Christmas wave of forged banknotes throughout the State.