Duke calls divisions in Ireland `rather artificial'

Saturday

The North's First and Deputy First Ministers pledged that the murder of a Catholic man, Mr Brian Service (35) in north Belfast would not derail the peace process.

Mr Service, a single man from Ardoyne, was shot in the head and back after he left his brother's house.

In a joint statement Mr David Trimble and Mr Seamus Mallon said if the killing was designed to derail the peace process it would fail.

Sunday

Department of Justice sources said that the Department would look again at the case of a Romanian family who were told they were to be deported.

Mr Aurel Costina and his wife, Sylvia, and their 12-year-old son Ionus, who have been in Ireland for nearly five years, had been arrested by gardai at 6.45 a.m. the previous Thursday at their home in Clonsilla, Dublin, and told they would be deported that afternoon. They were told another son, Marius, who was staying with relatives, was also to be deported.

Sources said a breakdown of communications seemed to have taken place between the Department, the family's solicitor and the family, which meant they had not been informed of the deportation order against them. Because of this, if they made a new application for leave to remain on humanitarian grounds, the Department would look at it sympathetically.

Monday

The President, Mrs McAleese, visited the Freemasons' Hall in Dublin, where she was told of the Freemasons' role in the 1798 Rebellion. Masons were prominent in 1798, she was told. Henry Joy McCracken was one, as was Henry Munroe, who led the United Irishmen at the Battle of Ballynahinch, Co Down. In Dublin, Archibald Hamilton Rowan and Oliver Bond were members.

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, presented the Irish Person of the Year Award 1998 to Ms Sophia McColgan, whose family suffered for years at the hands of an abusive and violent father. The McColgan family's difficulties were compounded by having to fight a lengthy legal dispute with the North Western Health Board.

Tuesday

On his first official visit to the Republic, the Duke of Edinburgh referred to "these rather artificial divisions between North and South". Prince Philip announced details in Dublin Castle of a millennium award scheme for young people, to be hosted jointly by Gaisce, the President's award scheme for young people, and his own award scheme.

The Garda provided the planning tribunal with fresh information about its criminal investigations of alleged planning corruption, the chairman, Mr Justice Flood, announced.

The investigation centres on planning matters in Dublin and matters relating to the construction of the massive ESB power station at Moneypoint, Co Clare.

The Government faced pressure from parents and mental handicap organisations to clear the waiting list for services for thousands of people with learning disabilities. They were angry many parents were looking after children with learning disabilities into their old age.

Wednesday

Official figures put the number of Irishmen from north and south who died in the first World War at 50,000. They were commemorated when the President, Mrs McAleese, and Queen Elizabeth joined King Albert of Belgium at a ceremony in the Belgian village of Mesen (Messines). The ceremony also saw the official opening of a peace tower - modelled on an Irish round tower - built by young work trainees from both sides of the Border.

Thousands of rare plants, some of which were the only examples in Europe, were said to be in imminent danger as an industrial dispute at the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin continued. Also under threat, it was said, was the garden's thousands of bees.

Unionists expressed anger at the announcement that the Maze prison in Co Antrim is to close by 2000 if the Belfast Agreement is fully implemented over the next two years.

Thursday

The Irish Permanent, which tried to evict a Dublin couple, admitted in court that it had overcharged them for two years and blamed a "systems failure". Judge Raymond Groarke commended the couple for taking on the company, which he said was a powerful financial institution.

Philip and Maire Eustace of St Maelruan's Park were understood to have been overcharged by between £1,000 and £1,500. Details of the overcharging emerged during an application by the bank to possess their home.

Ms Maureen Gaffney, chairwoman of the National Economic and Social Forum, said the strength of its secretariat was at an all-time low at present; down to one person. She said the forum had succeeded in the past because of its focus on solving problems, rather than a preoccupation with ideology.

The Bank of Ireland announced a doubling of half year-profits to £507 million.