Saturday/Sunday
THE British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, said that peace talks in the North will go ahead, with or without Sinn Fein. Speaking at the G7 meeting in Denver, he said: "They can't sit there and say `We're not going to let anyone else talk about a lasting settlement in Northern Ireland because we won't'."
Sources in the North indicated the RUC was considering sealing off all roads leading to Drumcree several days before the Orange parade.
The director of Trocaire, Mr Justin Kilcullen, described the famine in North Korea - "the workers' paradise on earth" as belonging more to hell than to heaven.
A subsidiary company of Independent Newspapers confirmed it would be suing the State for losses incurred due to the operation of illegal deflectors.
Refugees in Ireland set up a new organisation to defend their rights in the face of growing hostility.
The Leinster senior hurling semi-final, between Dublin and Kilkenny, at Croke Park was stopped for 15 minutes because of a crush. Up to 20,000 more people than expected attended the match.
Monday
Meeting in New York, Mr Bruton and Mr Blair agreed to drop the demand for prior decommissioning of paramilitary arms in the North. Details were not released, but it was agreed that the weapons would be decommissioned during political talks.
At the special session of the UN, called to review progress since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the Taoiseach said Ireland's economic growth should not be allowed to damage the environment.
Gardai said a Dutch woman, reported missing in Dublin, had travelled to Zurich on June 10th, the last day she was seen in Ireland.
UN sources in Lebanon rejected an Israeli disclaimer of responsibility for a mine explosion which cost an Irish UN soldier his leg and injured five others.
The playwright Sebastian Barry was given the Ireland Fund's Literary Award.
Tuesday
Fianna Fail made progress in negotiations with Independent TDs to form a minority coalition government on Thursday.
It was announced that 525 jobs would be lost to Derry with the closure of the United Technologies Automotive plant at the Creggan.
Mr Bruton told the British Prime Minister that the fate of Derry's Bloody Sunday victims was compounded by a second injustice arising from the Widgery report, which investigated the killing of 13 unarmed civilians by members of the Parachute Regiment. He called on Mr Blair to "lay to rest this most troubling and disturbing episode of the terrible history of the past 27 years".
Dr Tony O'Reilly donated $5 million to the Ireland Funds.
Wednesday
The British and Irish governments announced they were giving the IRA five weeks in which to declare a ceasefire, in the absence of which talks would go ahead without Sinn Fein. Parties to the Stormont talks were given the same time to agree to remove decommissioning as an obstacle, to permit the start of substantive political negotiations on September 5th. Mr Blair also confirmed it was his intention that the entire process would be completed by next May.
The Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, announced measures to clamp down on the flow of immigrants into the Republic via the UK. Immigration officers were given the power to refuse entry to people who do not meet "normal criteria".
A 29-year-old man from Lurgan, Co Armagh, was charged with the murder of two RUC officers in the town on June 16th.
The Industrial Development Authority said it expects jobs created this year will equal or exceed the record 13,319 it generated last year. The Minister for Enterprise and Employment told the Small Firms Association that the industrial decline of Dublin had been reversed during the past two years.
The Environmental Protection Agency gave an undertaking that it would extend its investigations into animal deaths in Askeaton, Co Limerick, if clinical indications of horses dying there from a rare intestinal tract condition are proven. The Aughinish Alumina plant in Askeaton vigorously defended its environmental record.
Thursday
Mr Bertie Ahern was elected Taoiseach in the Dail by 85 votes to 78. His supporters included the 77 Fianna Fail TDs, the four Progressive Democrats TDs, and four Independents, including Mr Caoimhghin O Caolain, the first Sinn Fein TD to take his seat in the Dail since 1922. Ms Mary Harney was appointed Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise and Employment.
Other new appointments were: Mr Charlie McCreevy as Minister for Finance, Mr Ray Burke as Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr David Andrews as Minister for Defence and European Affairs, Mr John O'Donoghue as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mrs Mary O'Rourke as Minister for Public Enterprise, Mr Brian Cowen as Minister for Health and Children, Mr Micheal Martin as Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Mr Joe Walsh as Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry, Mr Dermot Ahearn as Minister for Social Welfare, Mr Noel Dempsey as Minister for the Environment, Dr Jim McDaid as Minister for Tourism and Trade, Dr Michael Woods as Minister for the Marine, and Ms Sile de Valera as Minister for the Arts, Culture, and the Gaeltacht. Mr David Byrne SC was appointed Attorney General.
The Labour TD Mr Seamus Pattison was elected Ceann Comhairle.
The IRA was believed responsible for a rocket attack on an RUC Land-Rover in north Belfast on Wednesday night.
Legislation setting up the Criminal Assets Bureau was found, by the High Court to be constitutional.
It was the first anniversary of the killing of journalist Veronica Guerin, whose murder led to the formation of the Criminal Assets Bureau under which the State can confiscate money accrued through criminal activity.