2009 in Ireland

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2009
in
Ireland
Centuries:
Decades:
See also:2009 in Northern Ireland
Other events of 2009
List of years in Ireland

Events from the year 2009 in Ireland.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen described 2009 as the most challenging of his career in politics.

Incumbents

Events

January

February

Extreme weather occurred across Ireland in February (Pictured: Ballycullen Road near Tallaght on 3 February).
Ireland's largest bank robbery took place at the Bank of Ireland's College Green branch in February.

March

April

May

Ireland's oldest brewery in Cork since at least 1650 closed its doors in May. (Pictured: A 1919 advertisement for Beamish Stout)

June

July

  • 1 July – a woman died after falling 20 metres off the Mweelrea mountains in County Mayo.
  • 3 July – GOAL charity aid workers Sharon Commins and Hilda Kawuki were abducted from their compound in Darfur.
  • 3 July – a child in Roxboro National School in County Roscommon was found to have a case of swine influenza.
  • 6 July – the Treaty of Lisbon Bill was published.
  • 7 July – a 61-year-old woman was stabbed to death in Castlebar, County Mayo. Her son was charged with her murder the following day.
  • 10 July – Ronnie Dunbar was sentenced to life imprisonment for the manslaughter of Melissa Mahon.
  • 12 July – the Broadcasting Act changed the spelling of the national broadcaster from Radio Telefís Éireann to Raidió Teilifís Éireann.
  • 16 July – the report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes, also called An Bord Snip Nua, was published by University College Dublin economist Colm McCarthy. It recommended €5.3 billion in potential savings, including 17,300 public service job cuts and a five percent drop in social welfare.
  • 23 July – the Defamation and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bills became law, after being signed by President Mary McAleese.
  • 30 July – draft legislation to establish the National Asset Management Agency was published. The Bill proposed to give NAMA extensive powers to take over land and development loans from banks in an effort to get them lending again and supporting economic recovery.

August

Former President Mary Robinson received the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. President Barack Obama
  • 5 August – a murder investigation was launched after a woman's body was discovered under a tree in Phoenix Park. The woman was later found to be 50-year-old Eugenia Bratis from Timișoara in Romania, who had been in Ireland for several months. Her torso was stabbed several times.
  • 12 August – former President Mary Robinson received the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama at a ceremony in the White House in Washington, D.C., with Obama declaring her to have "not only shown a light on human suffering, but illuminated a better future for our world".
  • 21 August – a section of the main Dublin to Belfast railway line collapsed in Malahide in north Dublin. A 20-metre section of viaduct on the Broadmeadow estuary, between Malahide and Donabate gave way. A preliminary assessment carried out on 24 August identified significant erosion of the seabed as a possible reason for the collapse. The viaduct reopened to traffic on 16 November.

September

Muhammad Ali visited Ennis in September where he was made the first Honorary Freeman of the town.

October

The second referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon; Ireland voted Yes, Donegal voted No.

November

Association footballer Thierry Henry caused a controversy in November.
  • Continuing: Mass floods across Ireland, the most affected areas were the south coastal counties and cities, such as Cork City, the worst hit.
  • 1 November – the Gaelic Athletic Association celebrated its 125th anniversary.
  • 6 November – tens of thousands of people marched across eight cities in protest at government cutbacks.
  • 7 November – a street in Belfast disappeared into a large hole.
  • 9 November – Sligo was heavily flooded.
  • 12 November – Passage West in County Cork was heavily flooded.
  • 13 November – John McFarlane was sentenced to at least twenty years in prison at the Old Bailey in London for the murder of Dublin mother Mary Griffiths at her home in Suffolk.
  • 14 November – the Papal ban on discussion of the ordination of women priests was challenged by Willie Walsh, Bishop of Killaloe, during his address to the Association of European Journalists in Dublin.
  • 14 November – Scoil Mhuire Community School in Clane, County Kildare removes security cameras from student toilets following a two-day protest by parents and students.
  • 17 November – Brian Hennessy, a 23-year-old postal worker, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders of Sharon Whelan and her two daughters, Zara and Nadia, in Roscon, County Kilkenny in the early hours of Christmas Day of 2008.
  • 19 November – the Football Association of Ireland made an official complaint to FIFA and requested a replay, after France qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup the previous night with a goal resulting from a double handball by their striker and team captain Thierry Henry. FIFA and the French Football Federation refused. The incident attracted comment globally. Fans protested outside the French embassy in Dublin. The match had been watched by Ireland's highest television audience of 2009 and the highest audience for any sporting event in the country since 1995.
  • 20 November – the Progressive Democrats political party was officially dissolved.
  • 25 November – Ireland's largest tour operator, Budget Travel, ceased trading.
  • 26 November – the Murphy Report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin was published.
  • 26 November – an outbreak of measles occurs in Galway.
  • 27 November – it was announced that Máire Geoghegan-Quinn has been allocated Research and Innovation in the European Commission.
  • 30 November – the Health Service Executive began an expected two-month swine influenza vaccination programme in the nation's primary and secondary schools designed to combat the 2009 flu pandemic.
  • 30 November – it was announced that Monaghan's former army barracks is to be converted into an educational campus in a €20 million project intended to accommodate a primary and secondary Gaelscoileanna as well as a higher education institute.

December

St Mel's Cathedral, Longford was destroyed by fire on 25 December

Arts and literature

Music

Sport

Boxing

Gaelic games

  • 2009 All-Ireland Hurling season
  • 2009 All-Ireland Football season
    • Semi-finals:
    • Final:
      • Cork 1–09 versus Kerry 0–19, Croke Park, 20 September.

Golf

Sailing

Football

Hosting
29 January – UEFA announces that the new Lansdowne Road stadium would host the 2011 Europa League Final, the new title for the UEFA Cup.
League of Ireland
Premier Division Winner; Bohemians
First Division Winner; UCD
A Division Winner; Salthill Devon
Promoted to Premier Division; Sporting Fingal
Relegated to First Division; Bray Wanderers, Derry City
FAI Ford Cup; Sporting Fingal
FAI EA Sports Cup: Bohemians
Internationals
29 May – Ireland 1–1 Nigeria (London, UK)
6 June – Ireland 1–1 Bulgaria (Sofia, Bulgaria)
12 August – Ireland 0–3 Australia (Thomond Park, Limerick)
8 September – Ireland 1–0 South Africa (Thomond Park, Limerick)
First ever Irish-based senior international matches to be played in the Mid-West and the first to be played outside Dublin in twenty-four years. Training in County Tipperary.
World Cup 2010 Qualifiers
11 February – Ireland 2–1 Georgia
28 March – Ireland 1–1 Bulgaria
1 April – Italy 1–1 Ireland
6 June – Bulgaria 1–1 Ireland
5 September – Cyprus 1–2 Ireland
10 October – Ireland 2–2 Italy
14 October – Ireland 0–0 Montenegro
14 November – Ireland 0–1 France
18 November – France 1–1 Ireland

Rallying

  • 30 January – 1 February Rally Ireland was held. The rally was won by Sébastien Loeb.

Rugby union

In a successful year for rugby union in Ireland, Paul O'Connell was named captain of the British & Irish Lions squad for their tour of South Africa.
2009 Six Nations Championship
7 February – Ireland 30–21 France
15 February – Italy 9–38 Ireland
28 February – Ireland 14–13 England
14 March – Scotland 15–22 Ireland
21 March – Wales 15–17 Ireland
12 April – Muster and Leinster reached the semi-finals.
2 May – Leinster beat Munster 25–6 in the Heineken Cup semi-final at Croke Park in front of a world-record 82,208 attendance for a club match.
23 May – Leinster beat Leicester in the Heineken cup final, the fourth time an Irish province has done so.
2009–10 Heineken Cup
10 October – Munster and Leinster began their Heineken Cup season, with Leinster defending a title and Munster looking to win back the crown.

Deaths

January to July

July to December

See also


This page was last updated at 2023-07-09 13:37 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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