Saturday/Sunday
BOTH the British and Irish governments are considering involving both former US senator George Mitchell and Canada's Gen John de Chastelain in all party talks on June 10th, it was learned over the weekend.
Senator Mitchell, who presided over last year's arms decommissioning report, is favoured by the Government to chair Strand Two of the talks, dealing with North South relations, while Gen de Chastelain is favoured as a concession to unionist opinion as chairman of a sub committee that would deal with arms decommissioning in parallel with the talks process.
The chairman of the RTE Authority, Prof Farrel Corcoran, has predicted a loss of £2.4 million on the broadcasting side of the station and called for an increase in the licence fee.
Monday
The Packard plant in Tallaght is to close with the loss of 800 jobs. There was anger among the work force at the news that the plant would remain in operation for only three more months. The management claimed Packard in Tallaght could not compete with plants operating in low wage economies elsewhere.
The Tanaiste, Mr Spring, proposed that arms decommissioning should become in effect a fourth strand in the all party negotiations starting on June 10th. He told the British Irish Inter Parliamentary Body that decommissioning should be dealt with by remitting the issue, in the first instance, to an outside, independent and separate stream of negotiations.
Bord na Mona is to take no further action over the controversy surrounding the remuneration package of its chief executive, Dr Eddie O'Connor, until the directors have seen another report, requested by the Government, from the accountants, Price Waterhouse.
An antiques dealer and gaming hall operator, Christopher O'Connell, was jailed for eight years for importing cannabis worth £7 million. The drugs were seized by Customs officers in 1991 at Courtmacsherry, Co Cork.
Tuesday
The IDA is holding talks with Packard's parent company General Motors in an attempt to find an alternative use for the plant in Tallaght in an effort to save some of the 800 jobs.
The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, suggested it might be desirable to seek an "indicative time frame" to give momentum to all party talks. He also said there was no question of the Government conforming to or acquiescing in any unionist agenda of domination.
The Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, welcomed the speech and its conciliatory tone, and a constructive response to Mr Ahern's criticism of the Taoiseach in his Arbour Hill speech.
The leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, Mr David Ervine, warned that the loyalist paramilitary ceasefire was becoming increasingly fragile.
Wednesday
Nurses rejected a £40 million deal. The vote by 27,000 nurses has seriously undermined the Government's public pay policy. Nurses are now expected to ballot on strike action. Hundreds of other public sector workers, whose pay is traditionally linked to nurses' pay, had been watching the outcome of the vote carefully.
The 15 acre site which houses the Packard plant in Tallaght has become central to the talks between General Motors and the IDA. The Government is hoping the company will part with the site as a base for future jobs.
A leading Presbyterian minister who was instrumental in negotiating the loyalist ceasefire, the Rev Roy Magee, has claimed that some middle class unionists are intent on forcing the end of the ceasefire and encouraging paramilitaries to resume violence. He said that they feared the process was leading to a united Ireland and wanted the loyalist paramilitaries to do their "dirty work".
Thursday
The Taoiseach accused Mr Ahern of causing problems for loyalist leaders with his "one sided analysis of the Northern problem". Speaking at a Fine Gael function, he said ambiguity had emerged recently in Fianna Fail thinking. Mr Ahern's one sided view had already caused problems for loyalist leaders such as Mr David Ervine, and had put at risk the hard won pluralism in the South, Mr Bruton said.
Campaigners against a development on the Phoenix Park Racecourse site were dismayed by the decision to grant planning permission for the project, which will include a luxury hotel, a 12,000 seat indoor arena, a 63,000 seat stadium, and a casino.