The year in review

Maybe it’s just because the events of this year are still fresh in our minds, but this feels like a milestone year of massive events – and they keep coming.

Bring out the pints

The two State visits of Queen Elizabeth and Barack Obama do wonders for morale. Was anyone else surprised by an emotional reaction to the Queen’s visit? We were positively dewy eyed in the newsroom, but back to objective form fairly lively.

Both visitors were invited to wet their whistles with a taste of Guinness. Prince Philip looked ready to sink his glass, but declined in the end, as did the Queen. Barack Obama sank his pint like a regular though – and paid for it too.

Wipe-out for Fianna Fáil

The already-embattled Brian Cowen - still Taoiseach - is embroiled in controversy in January after it emerges he had taken part in a golf-and-dinner event also attended by Anglo boss Sean Fitzpatrick. Cowen insists that no secret agenda lay behind the event and that there was nothing inappropriate in it. The Greens don’t like it though, and John Gormley criticises his coalition colleague for not being more open.

The Taoiseach is in battling form and survives a self-tabled vote of confidence in mid-January. Rebel TD Micheál Martin resigns as Foreign Affairs Minister, having declared his lack of confidence in Cowen. To summarise the next stages in the rollercoaster of political events in the first four weeks of the year:

:: Wednesday January 19: Greens hold talks with the Taoiseach over timing of election. Mary Harney resigns as health minister at 9pm. Mr Gormley knows nothing about it until his wife Penny Stuart tells him.

Three other ministers follow her out of the door at 11pm - Dermot Ahern, Noel Dempsey and Tony Killeen. This time, Mr Gormley hears about it on RTE’s news bulletin the following morning.

:: Thursday January 20: Mr Gormley rings Mr Cowen after 7am as another minister, Batt O’Keeffe, quits.

Mr Cowen fails to appoint new ministers as Greens threaten walkout. The empty posts are later reassigned to existing ministers in an embarrassing climbdown for the Taoiseach.

Sunday January 23: Green Party pulls out of government, stating it has lost patience with Fianna Fáil.

Micheál Martin is elected the new leader of Fianna Fáil at the end of January, and presides over an historic electoral wipe-out for the party in the February elections.

Cork Airport crash

Tragedy strikes in Cork as six people are killed when a commuter plane crashes at the airport on February 10.

The daily scheduled morning flight from George Best Belfast City Airport was due to land after 9am but, after two aborted attempts to touch down in thick fog, the Fairchild Metroliner crashed after a third descent.

End of the road for the News of the World…and Amy Winehouse

As a phone-hacking scandal engulfs the News of the World newspaper, News International boss Rupert Murdoch makes the shock decision to close the newspaper at just a few days’ notice. Staff at the UK and Irish operations are furious and stunned at the decision, but bring out a final edition that commemorates the paper’s front pages over the years.

Also this year….

The Cloyne abuse report brings more light to the Church’s handling of the issue of child abuse by members of the clergy. Enda Kenny makes a hard-hitting speech in the Dáil, where he says the report “excavates the dysfunction, the disconnection, the elitism that dominates the Vatican today".

The deaths take place of Michaela Harte and Brian Lenihan, Michaela’s in utterly tragic and violent circumstances while on honeymoon in Mauritius.

Brian Lenihan succumbs to cancer, aged 52, just 18 months after diagnosis, and tributes pour in for a Finance Minister who ploughed on through the country’s worst ever economic crisis while fighting his own personal battle.

Osama bin Laden also died this year, in a in a US helicopter raid on a mansion in Pakistan.

The final Harry Potter film – Deathly Hallows, Part 2 - is released, amid much emotion and record-breaking at the box office, and Cheryl Cole is kicked off US X-Factor.

Thousands of us tune in to see Prince William and Kate Middleton walk up the aisle in what perhaps defines the notion of ‘fairytale wedding’, if you like all that pomp and ceremony. Pippa Middleton causes waves as Kate’s stunning bridesmaid.

Despite some positive buzz beforehand, Jedward don’t bring home any silverware from the Eurovision. Our golfers make up for that 100-fold though - Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke sweep all before them to win the US Masters and the British Open. Congrats lads!