'Examiner' at 180 — 2000-2010: A decade which gave us one of the darkest days in US history
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The new millennium arrived without too much havoc, as the Y2K computer scare passed without incident.
In the US, George Bush was elected president 36 days after a historically close election.
In the first year of his presidency, he was forced to deal with one of the darkest days in US history.
The world watched in horror when, on September 11, 2001, two hijacked planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York, causing both buildings to collapse.
Another plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, while a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania.
Approximately 3,000 people were killed in the attacks which were reported to have been the work of Islamic fundamentalist group Al-Qaida, headed by Osama bin Laden.
In the following year, it was war and violence that once again dominated the news, with the British and United States pushing their case for war in the early part of the year.
More than 100,000 people in Dublin marched in protest against the US plans and while the Irish government claimed it was opposed to the war, US forces were permitted to use facilities at Shannon airport.
In Limerick, meanwhile, a feud between two gangs escalated into a series of armed attacks and several murders.
One of the worst national disasters to ever occur happened in 2004 when an earthquake and resulting tsunamis killed more than 280,000 people in Asia, particularly coastal dwellers in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
There were two significant legislative changes in Ireland that year: A constitutional referendum, which was passed by a huge majority, removed the automatic right of citizenship for people born in Ireland, while the then health minister Micheál Martin banned smoking in indoor workplaces.
Former Fianna Fáil minister Ray Burke was sent to prison in 2005 after he pleaded guilty to two charges related to tax offences.
In Cork of that year, thousands of volunteers searched for missing 11-year-old Robert Holohan, whose body was later found in scrubland near his home in Midleton. Local youth Wayne O'Donoghue was subsequently charged with manslaughter.
In 2006, riots broke out in Dublin in protest of the Love Ulster parade, resulting in at least 14 injuries and significant financial losses for businesses.
In May 2008, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern resigned in the wake of revelations made in the Mahon Tribunal.
The great financial crash, which began in 2008, continued to cause financial chaos, with the number of people on the live register doubled to 386,000 between 2008 and 2009.
Emigration and unemployment, particularly in the construction sector, reached heights that had not been seen in many years.
The crisis coincided with a series of banking scandals, which resulted in the State spending almost €42bn to bail out financial institutions.
In 2009, it was the swine flu pandemic that swept across the world, with a swift vaccination programme rolled out to those who were most at risk of the flu.
In October of that year, the second Lisbon Treaty referendum was held, passing with 67% of people voting in favour.
- British doctor Harold Shipman was sentenced to 15 life sentences when he was found guilty of murdering 15 of his patients, including Irish woman Marie Quinn from Tipperary.
- Fianna Fáil TD, Liam Lawlor, was sentenced to three months imprisonment for contempt when he refused to provide details of his financial affairs to the Flood tribunal, which was examining corruption in land planning in Dublin.
- Pounds and pennies were no longer of use as the euro is introduced.
- One of Ireland’s major and most prolific literary figures, John B Keane, died, aged 73.
- Dolly the sheep, the first animal to be cloned from an animal cell, died, sparking renewed fears over the safety of cloning techniques.
- Police believed the IRA were behind the £22m robbery from Northern Bank headquarters in Belfast.
- The trial of Circuit Court Judge, Brian Curtin, on charges of possession of child pornography collapsed in Tralee when the court found gardaí had used an out-of-date warrant when searching Curtin’s house.
- Clare O’Leary made history when she became the first Irish woman to reach the South Pole.
- Michael Mernagh, a priest, completed a nine-day 272km atonement pilgrimage from Cobh to the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin to repent the church’s response to clerical child sex abuse.