2009 Lisbon II referendum

The Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland permitted the state to ratify the Lisbon Treaty of the European Union. It was effected by the Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution (Treaty of Lisbon) Act 2009, which was approved by referendum on 2 October 2009 sometimes known as the Lisbon II referendum. The amendment was approved by the Irish electorate by 67.1% to 32.9%, on a turnout of 59%. Following the referendum, Dáil Éireann (the lower house of parliament) gave its approval to the Treaty on 8 October 2009. The President of Ireland Mary McAleese signed the amendment of the constitution into law on 15 October. The Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on 1 December 2009.

2008 Bertie Ahern resigned as Taoiseach

Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern (born in 1951, age 63) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 1997 to 2008. Ahern served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1977 to 2011 and he represented the constituency of Dublin Central. Before he became Taoiseach, he served in the governments of Charles Haughey and Albert Reynolds as Minister for Labour (1987–91) and Minister for Finance (1991–94). In 1994, Ahern was elected sixth leader of Fianna Fáil. Under Ahern's leadership Fianna Fáil led three coalition governments. After Éamon de Valera, Bertie Ahern's term as Taoiseach is the longest. Ahern resigned as Taoiseach in 2008, in the wake of revelations made in Mahon Tribunal. The Mahon Tribunal found that Ahern, while not judged corrupt, had received monies from developers and the Tribunal disbelieved his explanations of those payments.

2001 Irish constitutional referendums

Three referendums were held simultaneously in Ireland on 7 June 2001, each on a proposed amendment of the Constitution of Ireland. Two of the measures were approved, while the third was rejected. The two successful amendments concerned the death penalty and the International Criminal Court. The failed amendment concerned the Treaty of Nice. To the surprise of the Irish government and the other EU member states Irish voters rejected the Treaty of Nice. The turnout itself was low (34%), partly a result of the failure of the major Irish political parties to mount a strong campaign on the issue, presuming that the Irish electorate would pass the Treaty as all previous such Treaties had been passed by big majorities. However many Irish voters were critical of the Treaty contents, believing that it marginalised smaller states. Others questioned the impact of the Treaty on Irish neutrality.

1999 Euro

Ireland yielded its official currency the Irish pound and adopted the Euro in 1999. The euro is the official currency of the eurozone, which consists of 19 of the 28 member states of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. The currency is also officially used by the institutions of the European Union and four other European countries, as well as unilaterally by two others, and is consequently used daily by some 337 million Europeans as of 2015.

1995 The Celtic Tiger period

Celtic Tiger refers to the economy of the Republic of Ireland between 1995 and 2000, a period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment, and a subsequent property price bubble which rendered the real economy uncompetitive. The Irish economy expanded at an average rate of 9.4% between 1995 and 2000 and continued to grow at an average rate of 5.9% during the following decade until 2008, when it fell into recession. The term refers to Ireland's similarity to the East Asian Tigers: Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan during their periods of rapid growth. An Tíogar Ceilteach, the Irish language version of the term, appears in the official terminology database and has been used regularly in government and administrative contexts.

1990 Mary Robinson the first female President of Ireland

Mary Therese Winifred Robinson (born 21 May 1944, age 70) served as the seventh, and first female, President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 1997 to 2002. She defeated Fianna Fáil's Brian Lenihan and Fine Gael's Austin Currie in the 1990 presidential election becoming, as an Independent candidate nominated by the Labour Party, the Workers' Party and independent senators, the first elected president in the office's history not to have had the support of Fianna Fáil. She is widely regarded as a transformative figure for Ireland, and for the Irish presidency, revitalising and liberalising a previously conservative, low-profile political office. She resigned the presidency two months ahead of the end of her term of office to take up her post in the United Nations.

1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement

The Anglo-Irish Agreement was an agreement between the United Kingdom and Ireland which aimed to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The treaty gave the Irish government an advisory role in Northern Ireland's government while confirming that there would be no change in the constitutional position of Northern Ireland unless a majority of its people agreed to join the Republic. It also set out conditions for the establishment of a devolved consensus government in the region. The Agreement was signed on 15 November 1985 at Hillsborough Castle, by the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and the Irish Taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald.

1973 Ireland joins the European Community

The European Economic Community (EEC) was an international organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957. Upon the formation of the European Union in 1993, the EEC was incorporated and renamed as the European Community. In 2009 the EC's institutions were absorbed into the EU's wider framework and the community ceased to exist. The Community's aim was to bring about economic integration, including a common market, among its six founding members: Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany. The first enlargement was in 1973, with the accession of Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Greece, Spain and Portugal joined in the 1980s. The former East Germany became part of the EEC upon German reunification in 1990. Following the creation of the EU in 1993, it has enlarged to include an additional sixteen countries by 2013.

1969 The Troubles

The Troubles is the common name for the ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that spilled over at various times into the Republic of Ireland, mainland-UK and mainland Europe. The Troubles began in the late 1960s and is deemed by many to have ended with the Belfast "Good Friday" Agreement of 1998, although there has been sporadic violence since then. Internationally, the Troubles is also commonly called the Northern Ireland conflict and has been described as a war. The term "the Troubles" was previously used to refer to the Irish War of Independence of 1919-21; it was adopted to refer to the escalating violence in Northern Ireland after 1969. The conflict was the result of discrimination against the Irish nationalist/Catholic minority by the unionist/Protestant majority and the question of Northern Ireland's status within the United Kingdom.

1955 Ireland joins the United Nations

Ireland became a member of the United Nations in 1955, after previously being denied membership due to its neutral stance during the Second World War and not supporting the Allied cause. At the time, joining the UN involved a commitment to using force to deter aggression by one state against another if the UN thought it was necessary. The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization established in 1945, to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was created following the Second World War to prevent another such conflict. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193. The headquarters of the United Nations is situated in Manhattan, New York City, and enjoys extraterritoriality.

1948 Republic of Ireland Act

The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 is an Act of the Oireachtas (parliament) which declared Ireland to be a republic, and vested in the President of Ireland the power to exercise the executive authority of the state in its external relations, on the advice of the Government of Ireland. The Act was signed into law on 21 December 1948 and came into force on 18 April 1949, Easter Monday, the 33rd anniversary of the beginning of the Easter Rising. The Act ended the remaining constitutional role of the British monarchy in relation to the state, by repealing the 1936 External Relations Act, which had vested in George VI and his successors those functions which the Act now transferred to the President.

1937 Constitution of Ireland

It is the second constitution of the state since independence, replacing the 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State with a new state called "'Éire', or, in the English language, 'Ireland'" It came into force on 29 December 1937 following a national plebiscite held on 1 July 1937. The Constitution may be amended solely by a national referendum. The Constitution of Ireland is the fundamental law of Ireland. The constitution falls broadly within the tradition of liberal democracy. It establishes an independent state based on a system of representative democracy. It guarantees certain fundamental rights, along with a popularly elected non-executive president, a bicameral parliament based on the Westminster system, a separation of powers and judicial review.

1923 Frank Aiken

Frank Aiken (1898 – 1983) was an Irish politician and a commander of the Irish Republican Army. Originally a member of Sinn Féin, he was later a founding member of Fianna Fáil. Aiken was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 1923 and at each subsequent election until 1973. He holds the distinction of being the second longest-serving member of Dáil Éireann. As Chief he issued the cease-fire and dump-arms orders on 24 May 1923 that effectively ended the Irish Civil War. He remained Chief of Staff of the IRA until 1925. Frank Aiken died on 18 May 1983 in Dublin from natural causes at the age of 85. He was buried with full State honours in his native Camlough, County Armagh, Northern Ireland.

1922 Irish Civil War

The Irish Civil War (June 1922 – May 1923) followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Empire. The conflict was waged between two opposing groups of Irish republicans over the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The Civil War was won by the Free State forces, which were heavily armed with weapons provided by the British Government. The conflict may have claimed more lives than the War of Independence that preceded it, and left Irish society divided and embittered for generations. Today, two of the main political parties in the Republic of Ireland, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, are direct descendants of the opposing sides in the war.

1919 Irish War of Independence

The Irish War of Independence or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (the army of the Irish Republic) and the British security forces in Ireland. It was an escalation of the Irish revolutionary period into warfare. In the December 1918 election, the Irish republican party Sinn Féin won a landslide victory in Ireland. In the January 1919 they formed a breakaway government (Dáil Éireann) and declared independence from Great Britain. Later that day, two members of the armed police force, the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), were shot dead in County Tipperary. This is often seen as the beginning of the conflict.

1914 Government of Ireland Act

The Government of Ireland Act 1914, also known as the Home Rule Act, and before enactment as the Third Home Rule Bill, was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to provide home rule (self-government within the United Kingdom) for Ireland. It was the third such bill introduced by a Liberal government in a 28-year period in response to the Irish Home Rule movement. The Act was the first law ever passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom that sought to establish devolved government in any part of the UK. However, the implementation of both it and the equally controversial Welsh Church Act 1914 was formally postponed for a minimum of twelve months with the outbreak of the First World War.

1913 Dublin Lock-out

The Dublin Lock-out was a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers which took place in Ireland's capital city of Dublin. The dispute lasted from August 1913 to January 1914, and is often viewed as the most severe and significant industrial dispute in Irish history. Central to the dispute was the workers' right to unionise. Foremost, among employers opposed to trade unionism in Ireland, was William Martin Murphy (dubbed "William Murder Murphy" among Dublin workers). Murphy was a highly successful businessman born in Castletownbere Co. Cork. In 1913, he was chairman of the Dublin United Tramway Company and owned Clery's department store and the Imperial Hotel. He also controlled the Irish Independent, Evening Herald and Irish Catholic newspapers and was a major shareholder in the B&I Line.

1867 Fenian Rising

The Fenian Rising of 1867 was a rebellion against British rule in Ireland, organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB was founded in Dublin by James Stephens in 1858). During the later part of 1866, IRB leader endeavoured to raise funds in the United States for a fresh rising planned for the following year. However the rising of 1867 proved to be poorly organised. There was a brief rising in County Kerry in February, followed by an attempt at nation-wide insurrection, including the taking of Dublin in early March. Due to poor planning and British infiltration, the rebellion never got off the ground. Most of the leaders in Ireland were arrested, but although some of them were sentenced to death, none were executed.

1845 Great Irish Famine

The Great Famine was a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration in Ireland between 1845 and 1852. The proximate cause of famine was a potato disease commonly known as potato blight, which ravaged potato crops throughout Europe during the 1840s. It is sometimes referred to, mostly outside Ireland, as the Irish Potato Famine because about two-fifths of the population was solely reliant on this cheap crop for a number of historical reasons. During the famine approximately 1 million people died and a million more emigrated from Ireland, causing the island's population to fall by between 20% and 25%.