Saturday/Sunday The Taoiseach announced a judicial tribunal to investigate the planning history of 730 acres of land in north Dublin from 1989.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Burke, will be required to give evidence about the receipt of £30,000 from Mr James Gogarty of JSME builders in 1989. At the time JSME and another building firm, Bovale, were discussing a campaign to have the land rezoned and to obtain planning permission to develop it.
Opposition parties called on Mr Burke to stand down pending the outcome of the tribunal, but Mr Ahern dismissed the suggestion.
Kerry beat Mayo 0-13 to 1-7 to win the All-Ireland football championship after 11 years in front of a crowd of 65,601.
Monday
Mr Derek Nally, a former garda, former general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors and now president of Victim Support, entered the presidential race by securing the nomination of four county councils: Wexford, Carlow, Kildare and South Dublin. Clare had already backed Mr Nally.
The Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, ordered a sixmonth adjournment of a public inquiry into the £220 million Dublin light rail project, Luas. She decided to commission an indep endent study to assess opposition to running Luas underground. Ms O'Rourke denied this would put the EU funding for the project in jeopardy.
UK Unionist leader Mr Bob McCartney called for a united unionist campaign against the talks process which he claimed was leading towards Irish unity. Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble attacked these "prophets of doom" who opposed all-party talks and who believed Britain would sell out the unionists.
A group called the Gaelic Earth Liberation Front sabotaged the first genetically modified crop in Co Carlow. The beet was being grown by US chemical giant Monsanto.
Tuesday
There was opposition fury over the draft terms of reference for the planning tribunal, centring on the fact that Mr Burke was not named. It also emerged that the Government had been informed that allegations relating to the lands concerned more than one elected representative.
Seamus Deane won the Irish Times Irish and International fiction awards. Declan Kiberd and Paul Muldoon were awarded the non-fiction and poetry prizes.
Green Party MEP Ms Patricia McKenna praised the environmental activists' action in destroying the genetically engineered beet in Co Carlow.
Wednesday
Prof Mary McAleese emerged as clear favourite to win the presidential campaign in the latest Irish Times/MRBI opinion poll. It showed Prof McAleese (FF) at 35 per cent, Ms Mary Banotti MEP (FG) 23 per cent, Ms Adi Roche (Labour) 22 per cent, Dana, Ms Rosemary Scallon, (Ind) 7 per cent. A surprising feature of the report was the level of cross-party support.
Four out of five voters, 79 per cent, did not believe Mr Burke's explanation for the receipt of £30,000 in 1989.
The Government and Opposition whips discussed new terms of reference for the planning tribunal. Although Mr Burke will not be named, the terms of reference will refer to the payment received by Mr Burke.
RUC sources said paramilitaries might be behind a £250,000 mail van robbery in Co Tyrone.
Ms Adi Roche opened her presidential campaign and pledged to hold a global summit of peacemakers and humanitarians in Ireland in 1999 if elected. She also said she would establish a commission to advise her on how to open the Aras to the children of Ireland.
Thursday
Fianna Fail's popularity rose to 50 per cent, up eight percentage points since the last poll in May, while the Progressive Democrats fell to 2 per cent, down five percentage points, according to the Irish Times/MRBI opinion poll. Fine Gael stood at 25 per cent, Labour 13 per cent, Green Party 3 per cent, Democratic Left 1 per cent, Workers Party 1 per cent and Sinn Fein 2 per cent.
Exchequer figures for the first nine months of the year were published showing a surge in tax revenue. Economic analysts said the receipts could open the way for £500 million in tax cuts in the December Budget and still aim to have no Exchequer borrowing next year.
The four-day ploughing championships in Birr, Co Offaly, ended after recording the event's highest attendance - 167,000 people visited the championships, including presidential candidates, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the leader of the opposition, Mr John Bruton.
A cheese produced on the Beara peninsula in Co Cork won the prestigious British Cheese Award. The judges said the "very pungent" cheese, Milleens, was "un missable at five feet".