Saturday/ Sunday
IT WAS the weekend the international Olympic spirit suffered a crushing blow and Ireland's 5,000 metres medal hope, Sonia O'Sullivan, suffered a personal tragedy.
A crude pipe bomb packed with nails and screws exploded during a rock concert in the Centennial Olympic Park in the early hours of Saturday morning, killing two people and injuring 110 more.
On Sunday night Sonia O'Sullivan's hopes of a gold medal in the final of the women's 5,000 metre race, and confirmation of her status as the world's greatest middle distance runner, collapsed as she failed to finish the race. The athlete from Cobh, Co Cork, ran into the exit tunnel with two laps of the race remaining, leaving Wang Junxia of China to take the gold medal. O'Sullivan left the stadium in tears. "She'll be back," her father, John O'Sullivan, told the press.
Monday
Sonia O'Sullivan spoke of days of health problems in an extraordinary press conference to explain her withdrawal from Sunday's final. "Since the heats of the 5,000 metres I've had diarrhoea," she said. I didn't tell anyone.
Unfortunately, the conference then deteriorated into a mass of allegations over reports that O'Sullivan was forced to strip in the tunnel prior to her heat of the 5,000 metre race earlier in the week because she was wearing Reebok running gear, approved by the Irish Olympic Committee, instead of Asics, the strip registered as the official strip by BLE, the national athletics federation.
The Minister for Transport, Mr Michael Lowry, announced a £73 million investment in train services, including the extension of the DART service to Malahide in north Dublin and Bray, Co Wicklow. Upgrading on the Waterford, Galway, Tralee and Sligo routes would shorten journey times by up to 30 minutes, he said. Meanwhile, CIE announced it would seek a 10 per cent fare increase "across the board" for all buses and trains.
Tuesday
The Government said it would seek independent legal advice on a possible appeal against a High Court award of £6.75 million to cover the costs of Mr Larry Goodman in the Tribunal of Inquiry into the Beef Processing Industry, set up in 1991. The decision was announced by the Taxing Master of the High Court, Mr James Flynn.
The costs include over £3 million to be paid to counsel for Mr Goodman and £923,000 to the Attorney General, Mr Dermot Gleeson, who acted for Mr Goodman before his Government appointment. The Cabinet is likely to seek independent legal advice on the matter due to the potential for conflict of interest involving the Attorney General.
The Department of Education published the Universities Bill 1996, the first major piece of legislation covering the universities since 1908. The Bill gives Maynooth College full constituent university status and provides for outside representation on the Board of Trinity College Dublin for the first time in its history.
Wednesday
Ireland's involvement in the 1996 Olympics reached its lowest point as Sonia O'Sullivan failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the 1500 metres competition.
O'Sullivan finished 10th in a field of 11 runners in her heat of the 1500 metres, ending her involvement. When asked if she was disappointed, a distressed O'Sullivan replied. "That's an understatement. There is obviously something wrong. I guess that's the end." A medical examination conducted after the race found that she was suffering from a bowel infection which she may have had for several weeks and that she also appeared to have a lip infection. The President, Mrs Mary Robinson, sent a message of support to O'Sullivan. "Have a good rest and rise above the hassles," it concluded.
Urine samples taken from Irish runner Marie McMahon tested positive for drugs. Early reports attribute her problems to the consumption of a painkiller for a leg injury but it was later stated that a cold cure may have contained a banned substance.
The annual Garda report for 1995 reveals that serious crime figures are at their highest level since the early 1980s. There were 102,484 indictable crimes recorded last year, an increase of 1,500 on the previous year. The number of murders rose from 25 in 1994 to 41 in 1995 and sexual crime rose by 43 per cent.
The Nationalist dominated Derry City Council votes to strip its mayor, Richard Dallas, of his trappings of office, including his car, his office and his secretary. The move followed his involvement in an Orange inspired blockade of Craigavon Bridge during the Drumcree stand off in July.
Thursday
The Cabinet announced it is to set up a committee to examine the feasibility of building a £30 million national incinerator. The incinerator would be used to destroy offal from cattle and sheep potentially infected by Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, said that to date 140 herds had been destroyed because of the disease but that a national incinerator was needed to deal with an expected EU ban on using spinal tissue from sheep in the food chain.
As reports from Britain indicated that BSE could be passed from infected cows to their calves, Mr Yates said this had no implications for public health in this State since the Department had been destroying calves from infected herds since last March.
In Britain, anti abortion groups held overnight vigils to protest at the destruction of more than 5,000 human embryos. The embryos were being destroyed under government regulations which state that frozen embryos cannot be kept for more than five years unless their parents request otherwise. The Vatican called it a "prenatal massacre".