ON THIS DAY IRISH HISTORY

[THE FUGITIVE]

February 5
1811 - Maurice Lenihan, journalist and historian, is born in Waterford
1820 - Death of William Drennan; physician, poet, educator and political radical, he was one of the chief architects of the Society of United Irishmen. He is also known as the first to refer in print to Ireland as "the Emerald Isle". Burial takes place in Clifton Street burial-ground in Belfast and, according to his will and with deliberate symbolism, his coffin is borne to the grave by three Catholics and three Protestants
1880 -The Irish Rugby Football Union is founded in Dublin
1960 - The Gael-Linn film Mise Éire - I am Ireland - with music by Seán �" Reada, has its first public showing
1961 - The Sunday Telegraph begins publication
1967 - The Musicians' Union bans the Rolling Stones's Let's Spend The Night Together from Eamonn Andrews' television show
1998 - It is announced that the Ulster Democratic Party, which was suspended from the Northern talks in the wake of Ulster Freedom Fighters-orchestrated sectarian killings, will not be granted a reprieve in time for the upcoming Dublin Castle negotiations
1999 - The French arrive in force in Dublin for tomorrow's Five Nations clash at Lansdowne Road
2001 - Extra British troops are deployed in an attempt to prevent further loyalist pipe bomb attacks on Catholic homes in north Belfast
2003 - A 120-strong 12th Infantry Battalion from Sarsfield Barracks is sent to Shannon to beef up security at the airport. The troops will remain until the threat of further attacks on military planes abates
2003 - The trial of three Irishmen charged with training members of the FARC guerilla movement resumes in Bogota, Columbia.
2006 - Former Bishop of Galway Eamonn Casey returns to Ireland after 14 years in exile. The cleric fled the country after he admitted to fathering his son, Peter.

[THE FUGITIVE]

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Irish
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February 6
1685 - Coronation of King James II
1877 - John O'Mahoney, Irish patriot, dies in New York City
1900 - John Redmond is elected leader of the Irish Party
1918 - The silent film version of Charles Kickham's popular novel Knocknagow, about life in a Tipperary village, is shown for the first time
1933 - 2RN is superseded by Radio Athlone
1971 - In Belfast, Robert Curtis becomes the first British soldier to be killed by the Provisional IRA
1998 - The European Commission launches an investigation into the FAI's refusal to allow Wimbledon football club to move to Dublin which could trigger a revolution in Irish and European soccer
1998 - Dr Kieran McCarthy, a marine specialist in the Zoology Department at UCG expresses fears that a uniquely Irish species of fish - pollan - which is found in only four fresh water lakes is being threatened by the vigorous spread of zebra mussels
2000 - A continuity IRA bomb explodes at a County Fermanagh hotel less than 24 hours before the Ulster Unionist Party’s Ken McGuinness is due to visit
2001 - Over 8,000 homes in the south of the country are left without power after a severe electrical storm and high winds wreak havoc
2001 - For the first time in three decades, Ireland’s first Eurovision winner Dana is back in the famous contest’s spotlight as she takes to the stage to introduce the entertainers at the Dublin launch of Eurosong 2001
2002 - The jinx on famine replica ship, the Jeanie Johnston, continues as the High Court grants an order against the owners and all persons claiming an interest in the ship
2002 - Pharmacists vow to fight Health Minister Micheál Martin through the courts to stop plans for industry deregulation
2003 - The Northern Secretary, Paul Murphy, returns Johnny Adair to prison alleging he had been involved in directing terrorism, drug dealing, extortion, money laundering and procuring and distributing guns.
2011 - Renowned rock guitarist Gary Moore dies in a hotel room while on holiday in Spain. Originally from Belfast, he was a former member of the legendary Irish group Thin Lizzy. Sir Bob Geldof pays tribute saying "Moore was "without question, one of the great Irish bluesmen. His playing was exceptional and beautiful. We won't see his like again."

[THE FUGITIVE]

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February 7
1873 - Death in Dublin of Joseph Sheridan LeFanu. Journalist, novelist, and short story writer, he is often called the father of the modern ghost story. Although Le Fanu was one of the most popular writers of the Victorian era, he is not so widely read anymore. His best-known works include Uncle Silas (1864), a suspense story, and The House by the Churchyard (1863), a murder mystery. His vampire story 'Carmilla,' which influenced Bram Stoker's Dracula, has been filmed several times
1875 - Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, mining engineer, philanthropist, art collector and the first honorary citizen of Ireland, is born in New York
1877 - John O'Mahony, founder of the Fenian Brotherhood in US, dies in New York
1940 - Birth of Harold McCusker, unionist politician, in Lurgan, Co. Armagh
1959 - Birth of Mick McCarthy, Barnsley, Manchester City, Celtic, Olympic Lyonnais, Millwall and Republic of Ireland footballer; Millwall and Republic of Ireland manager
1991 - The IRA fires at least three mortar bombs at 10 Downing Street; they fail to detonate
1998 - A burst of Dear Old Skibbereen shatters the stillness as GAA star Michael McCarthy is laid to rest in his West Cork hometown
1999 - The British Government urges David Trimble and Gerry Adams to agree to some sort of compromise in a bid to end the paramilitary disarmament deadlock
1999 - Two Irish soldiers are hospitalized after being hit by shrapnel from a heavy 120 mm mortar explosion in crossfire between the Southern Lebanese Army and Hizbollah guerrillas
2001 - More than 3,500 passengers are affected by the cabin crew pay strike at Shannon Airport
2002 - The Cranberries announce that proceeds from their new single, Time is Ticking Out, will be donated to the Chernobyl Children's Project
2002 - One elderly woman, in line at St Patrick's Church in Ringsend, Dublin for a �,�1,000 cheque for flood damage, had all her possessions with her - in just one bag. She is just one of hundreds of homeowners who benefit after the Archdiocese of Dublin donates hundreds of �,�1,000 cheques to victims of the recent flooding in the city
2003 - Northern Secretary Paul Murphy says he is hopeful the Executive in the North will be up and running again by March 17 once a series of intense roundtable talks are completed.

[THE FUGITIVE]

    

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February 8
1872 - Captain John Philip Nolan, a supporter of home rule and tenant rights, defeats Conservative William Le Poer Trench in a Co. Galway by-election
1999 - Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams refuses to rule out the possibility his party will take legal action to secure the early release of Garda Det. Jerry McCabe's killers when the anger surrounding the case dies down
2000 - Boyzone's Keith Duffy is officially declared Ireland's sexiest man by a prestigious panel of judges. Keith won out over an impressive list of handsome hunks, including Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne, Fine Gael deputy Ivan Yates, actor Noel Pearson and Esat multi millionaire Denis O’Brien. Dancer supreme Michael Flatley, comedian Brendan Carroll and the inimitable Jackie Healy Rae TD also feature on the sexiest list
2000 - US President Bill Clinton makes it clear to the Irish and British Governments he is ready to become actively involved in trying to save the Northern Ireland government if needed
2000 - The Northern Ireland peace process is plunged into further crisis following the disclosure that the UVF is planning a country wide purge against the renegade LVF
2000 - Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams issues a stark warning that he is ready to walk away from the Northern Ireland peace process if the Government re-imposes direct rule from Westminster
2001 - A man is injured by an explosive device amid heightening fears of fatalities in an escalating campaign of loyalist pipe bomb attacks on Catholic families in Northern Ireland
2002 - Dissident republicans are believed to be behind a bomb attack at an army training centre in Co Derry which left a civilian security guard critically injured
2003 - Deposed loyalist terror boss Johnny ‘Mad Dog’ Adair suffers a final humiliation when a new paramilitary regime is officially installed in his west Belfast stronghold.

[THE FUGITIVE]

February 9
1731 - Birth of Sir Lucius O'Brien, opposition politician; he will eventually be described as 'a man who disagrees with the rest of mankind by thinking well of himself'
1903 - Charles Gavan Duffy, the first editor and proprietor of The Nation newspaper, dies in Nice
1932 - The Army Comrades Association is formed; later to be called the National Guard and nicknamed the 'Blueshirts'
1923 - Birth in Dublin of playwright Brendan Behan
Photo Credit: P. J. Clarkes
1926 - Birth of Irish statesman, Dr. Garrett FitzGerald. Former Prime Minister. He serves as the Prime Minister of Ireland from June 1981 to March 1982 and again from December 1982 to March 1987. During his time in office he attends more than 20 European Council meetings and at different times serves as President of the Council of Ministers and the European Council of Heads of Government. He is currently a member of the Council of State and an active Chancellor of the National University of Ireland, which comprises four of the State's seven universities. Dr. Fitzgerald is also a lecturer, consultant, company director and writer. He is the author of six books, the most recent being "Reflections on the Irish State"
1983 - A nationwide hunt begins following the kidnapping of prize stallion and 1981 Derby winner Shergar from the Aga Khan's stables in Co. Kildare
1996 - IRA ends ceasefire with London Docklands bombing, killing two and injuring 100
1998 - Claremorris show jumper, Carl Hanley receives the Irish Field National Award at the Annual Awards Ball in Dublin
1998 - Ulster Unionist rebels planning to overthrow leader David Trimble confirm there is "widespread concern" at the political direction of the party following revelations of a possible leadership challenge next month
1998 - Nationalist politicians in the North respond angrily to a consultative paper described as the most far-reaching British government review of police accountability for 30 years
2000 - Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson issues a direct appeal to the IRA to start disarming in order to save the peace process from collapse
2001 - Limerick man Michael Noonan is elected leader of Fine Gael.
2007 - Death of author Ben Kiely, one of Ireland’s best acclaimed writers and journalists at the age of 87. Born between Drumskinny in Co Fermanagh and Dromore, Co Tyrone and a former pupil of Mount St Columba Christian Brothers School in Omagh, his career spans six decades and produces many short stories and novels, as well as his autobiography Drink to the Bird: An Omagh Boyhood.
Photo Credit: Omagh Government
2011 -The last sketch by artist Jack B Yeats, drawn while he lay dying in a Dublin nursing home, sells at auction in London yesterday for £5,760.
Roundabout Ponies far exceeded its estimate of £1,500- £2,000 at the inaugural Irish Sale at Bonhams, the New Bond Street fine art auctioneers.

[THE FUGITIVE]

February 10
1844 - Daniel O'Connell is convicted of "conspiracy," fined and sentenced to 12 months in prison
1852 - William O'Brien, writer and nationalist, is born in Mallow, Co. Cork
1889 - Richard Piggott is exposed as forger of 'Times' Phoenix Park letters
1907 - Death of Dublin- born journalist, Sir William Howard Russell
1926 - Danny Blanchflower, footballer, is born in Belfast
1965 - The Lockwood Committee Report on higher education in Northern Ireland is published
1998 - It is feared that a new wave of tit-for-tat sectarian terror will hit the North after the murder of Robert Dougan, a leading loyalist, outside a textile company near Belfast
1998 - Suspected SLVF leader, Mark "Swinger" Fulton, survives a murder attempt in Portadown, Co. Armagh
1998 - Northern Secretary Mo Mowlam and Ulster Unionist security spokesman Ken Maginnis agree to bury the hatchet in their bitter personal row, which threats to overshadow the Stormont talks process
1998 - Republican and security sources in the North clash amid allegations that IRA members behind the murder of top Belfast drugs dealer Brendan Campbell and fears it could lead to Sinn Fein's expulsion from the Stormont talks
1999 - Bertie Ahern's minority Coalition suffers another blow to its stability when Fianna Fáil backbencher, Beverly Cooper-Flynn, chooses to back her father, Padraig Flynn, rather than the Government in a crucial Dáil vote
1999 - A potentional major tragedy is averted when over 100 mine-workers ar lifted to safety after a fire 1,150 feet below the ground at Tara Mines, Navan
2000 - David Trimble meets with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dublin
Photo Credit: Maxwells/Dublin
2002 - Children from Belfast's troubled Holy Cross school arrive in Connemara for what promises to be a welcome break. The three-day holiday is a gift from the proprietor of Peacockes Hotel at Maam Cross in Galway
2003 - A dissident republican bomb attack on Enniskillen prompts calls for the British government to put on hold any plans to scale down army installations in the North.
2011- Six confirmed dead as plane crashes at Cork airport. The Manx2 airline flight from Belfast to Cork overturned and caught fire while making a third attempt to land. The twin turboprop plane was due to arrive in Cork at about 9.45am. There was heavy fog in the area at the time.
Photo Credit: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision
2011 - A painting by Irish-born artist Francis Bacon painting sells at auction at Sotheby’s in London for £23 million (�,�27.2 million) - more than three times the pre-sale low estimate. The triptych, Three Studies For A Portrait Of Lucian Freud, was painted in 1964 and shows Bacon’s friend and fellow artist with a variety of facial expressions. The painting was sold by a private collector and was bought by an anonymous buyer in the packed saleroom after seven minutes of intense bidding by more than 10 people from four different continents

[THE FUGITIVE]

February 11
1774 - Death of Jacob Poolem antiquary, in Growtown, Co. Wexford
1858 - The Miracle of Lourdes takes place when St Bernadette - Bernadette Soubirous - has her first vision of the Virgin Mary
1926 - Rioting greets the Abbey Theatre performance of Sean O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars because of what is viewed as anti-Irish sentiment. Yeats tells the audience 'You have disgraced yourselves again'
Photo Credit: Culver Pictures, Inc.
1959 - Catherine White is born in Columbus Ohio, USA.
1992 - After Haughey's resignation as Taoiseach, he is succeeded by Albert Reynolds on this date
1998 - The mother of Stephen Restorick, the last British soldier killed in Northern Ireland, says she is "saddened" by the decision of a member of John Hume's party to boycott a memorial service in the Co. Armagh village where her son died
2000 - A new de Chastelain report on the IRA arms decommissioning impasse identifies a real prospect of agreement
2003 - Dissident republicans opposed to the peace process in Northern Ireland warn of new bomb attacks.

[THE FUGITIVE]

    

Today
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Irish
History


February 12
1722 - Thomas Burgh, MP for Naas, and Richard Stewart, MP for Strabane, receive the first £2,000 of £8,000 from the Irish parliament for operating their colliery at Ballycastle, Co. Antrim
1782 - The right of habeas corpus is introduced in Ireland
1820 - The ships East Indian and Fanny, with about 350 Irish emigrants aboard, leave Cork for Cape Colony, carrying some of the "1820 settlers"
1848 - John Mitchel publishes first United Irishmen
1923 - Birth in Castledawson, Co. Derry/Londonderryof James Chichester-Clark, Northern Ireland Prime Minister from 1969 to 1971
1930 - The first Free State Censorship Board is appointed
1945 - Jimmy Keaveney, Dublin Gaelic footballer, is born in Dublin
1949 - Fergus Slattery, rugby player, is born in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
1971 - Delia Murphy, ballad singer, dies
1976 - Frank Stagg, Irish political prisoner, dies on hunger strike in English prison
1989 - Patrick Finucane is murdered by Unionist assassins; Finucane, who acted as solicitor for republican hunger striker Bobby Sands was shot dead at his north Belfast home in front of his wife and children
1998 - The IRA insists that their ceasefire is still in place �" despite "speculation surrounding recent killings in Belfast"
1998 - It is confirmed that Ireland has one of Europe's top economies and our ability to compete globally outstrips Germany and France
1999 - President Mary McAleese says Pope John Paul has told her, in their private meeting at the Vatican, he is considering a return visit to Ireland
1999 - Literary legend John B. Keane discloses that he is back writing again after a four-year break due to illness
1999 - A new political storm rages after Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams predicts that the North would be moving toward a united Ireland in 15 years time
2002 - Health Minister Micheál Martin vows to press ahead with further restrictions on smoking in pubs, despite opposition from publicans
2002 - Two Dublin film companies are nominated for Oscars in the Best Animated Short Film category and Donegal singer/songwriter Enya is nominated for best song with May It Be, from the Lord of the Rings soundtrack
2003 - Irish musicians are hoping their plea to stop US military aircraft refuelling at Shannon will strike the right chord with the Government. More than 50 top acts have signed an open letter which will be sent to the Taoiseach asking him to end the refuelling stopover at the airport
2003 - Mystery surrounds the identity of an artist as 24 of his paintings are launched at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). Known only as “John the Painter”, he has been in psychiatric care in Cork city for more than 30 years
2003 - Talks between the Taoiseach, the British Prime Minister and Northern politicians conclude in Hillsborough Castle, Co Down.

[THE FUGITIVE]

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February 13
1689 - William and Mary - daughter of James II - are proclaimed king and queen jointly
1820 - Leonard McNally, lawyer and English informer, dies
1871 - Joseph Devlin, Belfast Nationalist, is born
1864 - Stephen Lucius Gwynn, writer and nationalist, is born in Dublin
1898 - Frank Aiken, revolutionary and politician from Co. Armagh, is born
1938 - Larry Cunningham, country singer, is born in Granard, Co. Offaly
1956 - Birth in Dublin of Liam Brady, former soccer international
1998 - It is announced that Irish Embassy staff in Riyadh and Tel Aviv, the Saudi and Israeli capitals, are being kitted out with special suits to protect them against nuclear, biological or chemical weapons
1998 - Ireland's electricity industry, one of the last bastions of the closed market, takes a historic step towards open competition when Enterprise Minister Mary O'Rourke inspects the site of a Finnish-owned peat-fuelled generating station in Offaly
2001 - Kosovar refugees living in Tralee and Waterford celebrate their right to become Irish citizens, almost two years after they first arrived in Ireland. A total of 140 Kosovar refugees, displaced as a result of an ethnic war in their homeland, are to be allowed live in Ireland permanently on humanitarian grounds
2002 - It is announced that John Rocha is to become the first Irish designer to receive a CBE award for his long-standing contribution to the fashion industry
2003 - Nearly10,000 people are forced to find an alternative way of getting to work in Dublin when Dart services are disrupted by a major overhead line fault.
2011 - Actor, TP McKenna, well known for his stage, film and television work, dies in London following a long illness. The 81-year-old, who was born in Mullagh, Co. Cavan, died on Sunday evening. He had established himself as one of the finest and most versatile actors of his generation, on stage, television and in film, in a career spanning half a century.
Following several years on the stage he began appearing in television dramas from the 1960s including 'Dangerman', 'Adam Adamant', 'The Avengers', 'The Saint', 'Jason King', 'The Sweeney', 'Blakes 7', 'Doctor Who' and 'Minder' .

[THE FUGITIVE]

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February 14
1629 - Valentine Greatrakes - or Greatorex - a physician who is known as the 'touch doctor', is born in Affane, Co. Waterford
1700 - A subsidy is authorized to Louis Crommellin for establishing a linen industry
1792 - Pianist and composer John Field gives his first public performance at the Rotunda in Dublin
1853 - The Queen Victoria sinks in a storm off Howth, with the loss of 55 lives
1856 - Frank Harris, writer and journalist, is born in Galway
1878 - Daniel Corkery, writer, critic and Irish cultural enthusiast, is born in Cork
1895 - Birth in Tipperary of Revolutionary, Sean Treacy
1951 - Alan Shatter, Fine Gael politician, is born in Dublin
1981 - The Stardust Ballroom in Artane, Dublin goes up in flames; 48 young people are killed and more than 100 are injured
1999 - The Provisional IRA calls a halt to 'rough justice' in a move which is being seen as a concession to the on-going peace process in Northern Ireland
2000 - Four Irish soldiers are killed in a tragic road accident in South Lebanon
2000 - Castlecove, Co. Kerry wins two prizes in the Nations in Bloom competition, held in Hamamatsu, Japan, overcoming challenges from cities such as Lisbon and Toronto
2000 - A joint Irish/British strategy for dealing with the difficulties left by the suspension of the Northern Ireland administration is finalised by Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern and Prime Minister, Tony Blair
2000 - Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams says politics in Northern Ireland are now in ‘‘the worst crisis of a crisis ridden process’’
2001 - The Ulster Defence Association, the largest of the Protestant paramilitary groups, breaks its silence to deny any involvement in the wave of sectarian pipe bomb attacks which have spread terror across the north
2001 - At Áras an Uachtaráin, president Mary McAleese presents the prestigious Gaisce gold medal awards to 55 young high achievers from 17 different countries
2002 - Pregnant women are advised by the Departments of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development and of Health and Children to avoid contact with sheep at lambing time. The advice is issued in the context of the potential risks of contracting an infection that can occur in some ewes
2002 - The Bishop of Killaloe says he would welcome the ordination of women priests. Dr Willie Walsh made his comments amid a growing crisis within his own diocese. Just one priest is set to be ordained within the next seven years. In the same period, over a dozen priests are set to retire
2003 - Hundreds of train passengers have their travel plans disrupted by a lightning industrial action by the National Bus and Rail Workers Union in Cork. All services out of the city’s Kent Station from lunchtime until 5pm are affected.

[THE FUGITIVE]

    

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February 15
1782 - The first Dungannon Convention of the Ulster Volunteers calls for an independent Irish parliament; Grattan continues to campaign for the same objective
1793 - A third convention of Dungannon - a gathering of Volunteers from Ulster is held
1794 - The United Irishmen publish a plan for parliamentary reform, advocating universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts and the secret ballot
1850 - Sophie Bryant, Irish patriot and women's rights advocate, is born
1874 - Birth in Kilkea, Co. Kildare of Antarctic explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton
1901 - Viscount Brendan Bracken, politician, publisher and British Minister of Information from 1941 to 1945 is born in Templemore, Co. Tipperary
1946 - Clare Short, British Labour politician, is born in Crossmaglen, Co. Armagh
1966 - Novelist John McGahern loses his job as a teacher at Clontarf National School because of ‘indecencies’ in his book "The Dark"
1971 - Ireland switches to decimal currency
1998 - Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness hints of the danger of an end to the IRA ceasefire if, as expected, his party is expelled from the Northern Peace talks in Dublin
1998 - Ireland has the second lowest number of workplace accidents in Europe, but employers face the highest rate of insurance claims, totalling £400m per year
1998 - According to the Small Firms Association, as many as 1,000 jobs could be lost in Ireland, following the takeover of the HCR group of chemist shops by British superchain, Boots
2000 - The National Bus and Rail union claim a high level of public support for its one day strike which forces 200,000 passengers to find alternative ways of getting to work
2000 - The IRA delivers a shattering blow to the Northern Ireland peace process by pulling out of talks with the arms decommissioning body
2000 - Bishop Cormac Murphy O’Connor succeeds the late Cardinal Basil Hume to become Archbishop of Westminster and the the new leader of 4·1 million Catholics in England and Wales
2001 - In Belfast, more than 100 members of health service union Unison stage the first in a series of "shadow of the gun" protest rallies. The public demonstration follows threats from loyalist terror groups to staff at the Mater Hospital on the Crumlin Road
2001 - Lena Hunt, a 78-year old pensioner from Limavady, Co. Derry, turns down a £250,000 offer for part of her back garden, insisting that it means more to her than money. Without the key bit of land, developers of a multi-million pound supermarket project are unable to proceed
2001 - One week after protesters call off their blockade of the ill-fated Mullaghmore interpretative centre and car park in the Burren, machinery moves in to demolish the buildings and associated facilities
2002 - Popstars group 6 grab No 1 spot in the Irish charts with their debut single "There's A Whole Lot of Loving Going On."
2008 - The first ever students of a university course for people with intellectual disabilities graduate in a ceremony at Trinity College, Dublin. The pioneering two-year course aims to promote the inclusion of people with intellectual disability in college life. Nineteen students receive certificates in Contemporary Living.

[THE FUGITIVE]

    

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February 16
1768 - The Octennial Act limits Irish parliaments' life to eight years
1822 - James Thomson, engineer, is born in Belfast
1886 - The Irish Catholic Hierarchy formally endorses Home Rule
1902 - Birth of singer Delia Murphy in Ardroe, Claremorris, Co. Mayo
1932 - Fianna Fáil wins the general election; de Valera succeeds Cosgrave as President of the Executive Council; Seán Lemass is Minister for Industry and Commerce
1998 - Both the British and Irish governments are united on move to expel Sinn Féin from peace talks
1998 - Michael Flatley announces that he is to make his last live appearance in Ireland this summer
2000 - Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams accuses the British Government of tearing up the Good Friday Agreement
2001 - RUC Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan warns that the Real IRA represents a potent and a growing threat
2002 - Three republicans accused of training left-wing guerrillas in Colombia could face trial within a month. A spokeswoman for the attorney general's office in the Colombian capital Bogota confirmed prosecutors have sent their case against Niall Connolly, James Monaghan and Martin McCauley to a federal judge
2003 - Protesters make formal complaints to the gardaí alleging offences under the National Monuments Act after archeological contractors move on to the Carrickmines Castle site to start taking apart the stone structure.

[THE FUGITIVE]

    

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February 17
1896 - In the House of Commons. Horace Plunkett and W.E.H. Lecky, Irish Unionists, support John Redmond's plea for clemency for Irish political prisoners
1945 - Birth of actress, Brenda Fricker
1978 - An IRA incendiary bomb explodes at the La Mon entertainment complex in Comber Co. Down ; it kills 12 people and injures 30 others. The blast is the second worst since the present wave of troubles began in 1969
1980 - The Derrynaflan Chalice and other ancient silver and bronze pre-Christian antiquities are discovered in Co. Tipperary
1998 - Sinn Féin announces it will mount a legal challenge to the British Government's attempt to have them expelled from the multi -party talks
1998 - According to a nation-wide survey, "Morning Ireland" is the nation's favourite radio programme
1999 - Farmers with tractors and trailers move through the centres of 28 cities and towns during a National Day of Action to protest proposed reforms in the EU Common Agricultural Policy
1999 - EU governments gear up for an epic battle with the European Commission over the Brussels verdict to end duty free sales
2000 - Minister O’Donoghue unveils a raft of far reaching proposals for a new legislative initiative at a passing out ceremony at the Garda College in Templemore. He tells the 98 graduating recruits he has received Government approval to draft and bring a new Criminal Justice Bill before the Oireachtas
2001 - Two explosions near Newry force the closure of the rail line between Portadown and Dundalk
Photo Credit: Photopress, Belfast
2003 - Supermarket giant Tesco sparks a possible price war with the opening of its first petrol filling station in Killarney, Co Kerry
2003 - The famine replica ship, the Jeanie Johnston, is forced to drop anchor close to the Valentia Island, 20 hours into her 21-day voyage to Tenerife. Strong winds also lead Aer Lingus to cancel all flights to New York.

[THE FUGITIVE]

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February 18
1366 - The Statutes of Kilkenny are passed in an attempt to prevent Norman settlers becoming “more Irish than the Irish themselves”
1478 - George, Duke of Clarence, is executed for high treason in the Tower of London; according to Shakespeare, he meets his death by being drowned in a butt of malmsey wine
1948 - A coalition government takes over under Fine Gael's John Aloysius Costello
1921 - Brian Faulkner, the last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland who serves from 1971 to 1972, is born in Helen's Bay, Co. Down
1922 - Joe Carr, amateur golfer, is born in Dublin
1948 - Actress Sinead Cusack is born
1964 - Death in Blackrock of novelist Maurice Walsh, author of the original story of The Quiet Man
1978: Police in Northern Ireland arrest at least 20 people in connection with the La Mon entertainment complex explosion
1982 - General election in the Republic leads to a Fianna Fáil minority government; Haughey succeeds FitzGerald as Taoiseach
1998 - A page in Irish history is written as Sinn Féin representatives walk into the Four Courts as plaintiffs rather than defendants. One journalist says "The last time Republicans walked in the front door of this building was during the Civil War when the Irregulars occupied the place"
2000 - One of Waterford’s best loved theatrical personalities, Denny Corcoran, is announced as the 1999 winner of the Waterford Crystal WLR FM Arts and Entertainment Hall of Fame Award for his lifetime contribution to theatre and music in a career spanning over four decades
2000 - The bodies of four soldiers tragically killed in a car accident in Lebanon are brought to the Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel
2002 - Hospitals nationwide are forced to cancel admissions, postpone surgery and close outpatient clinics as the highly-contagious winter vomiting virus spreads, striking patients and staff
2003 - Singer Bono is nominated for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize. It is the second year in a row that he has been nominated
2003 - Twelve men serving sentences in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin make Irish legal history when they become the first graduates of a new course on the very reason they’re behind bars - the law.

[THE FUGITIVE]

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February 19
1904 - Birth on the Great Blasket Island of writer Muiris �" Suilleabhain who is best known for his book, "Twenty Years A-Growing"
1939 - De Valera states his intention to preserve Irish neutrality in the event of a second world war
1987 - A general election in the Republic returns a Fianna Fáil government with Haughey as Taoiseach
1992 - US government deports Joseph Doherty, volunteer Oglaigh na hÉireann
1999 - Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh launches an ambitious bid to cushion the impact on Ireland of huge cuts in EU beef subsidies as the deadline for sweeping CAP reforms nears
1999 - Families of missing IRA murder victims plead with Sinn Féin
leaders to use their influence with the IRA to find out where the dead are buried
1999 - The hearing of an application by Sinn Féin for an injunction restraining the party's expulsion from the Northern Ireland negotiations resumes at the High Court
2000 - Four peacekeepers killed in an automobile accident in Lebanon - Privates Declan Deere, Brendan Fitzpatrick, Jonathan Murphy and John Lawlor - are laid to rest in their native towns
2001 - According to the latest price survey, taxes make price of Irish cars highest in the EU
2001 - A 4ft limestone rock is unveiled at the entrance to Villierstown in west Waterford which is famous for the heroic exploits and achievements of John Treacy. Weighing a massive eight and a quarter tons, the stone, which came from the nearby quarry at Cappagh, bears the surnames of all 84 families living in the village and the immediate surrounding townlands as of January 1, 2000
2003 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern says a second United Nations resolution before any military action against Iraq is a political imperative. But Mr Ahern is still refusing to state whether the Government will halt the use of Shannon Airport by the US military if the Bush administration undertakes unilateral action against Saddam Hussein without UN backing.