History

June - Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael form a coalition with the Green Party after the closely-fought February election put the left-wing republican Sinn Féin party in second place. Micheál Martin takes over as head of the coalition government.

June - Leo Varadkar becomes prime minister after Enda Kenny resigns.

May - Months of political deadlock are finally broken after Fine Gael reaches an accommodation with Fianna Fáil, allowing Enda Kenny to form a minority government. Parliament re-elects him as Taoiseach.

August - European Commission orders Ireland to recover up to 13bn euros (£11bn) from the technology giant Apple in back taxes, after ruling that the firm was granted undue benefits amounting to illegal state aid.

May - Referendum approves same-sex marriage by a large margin.

 April: President Michael D Higgins makes an official visit to Britain, the first by an Irish head of state.

June - The government says it will hold an inquiry into mother and baby homes operated last century by religious organizations after claims that 800 children died at one home between 1925 and 1961.

October - The first post-bailout budget introduces tax cuts and - following criticism from the US and EU - ends a loophole that allowed foreign multinationals to pay very low taxes in other countries.

February—The European Central Bank approves a deal to liquidate the former Anglo-Irish Bank, nationalized in January 2009. The agreement allows Ireland to defer the bill for its most controversial bank bailout by decades.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny formally apologizes for the Irish state's role in the Magdalene laundries - harsh institutions in which "fallen women" were forcibly detained and made to work without pay between 1922 and 1996.

June - New government figures show Ireland is back in recession for the first time since 2009.

 July - Parliament passes legislation that, for the first time, allows abortion in limited circumstances.

December - Ireland officially exits EU/IMF bailout programme having fulfilled its conditions - the first bailed-out eurozone country to do so.

June - Voters approve European Union fiscal treaty by 60% at referendum, endorsing government's commitment to EU-backed austerity programme.

 February—Taoiseach Cowen calls an early election. Opposition Fine Gael wins most seats, and leader Enda Kenny takes office on a pledge to renegotiate the terms of the EU/IMF bailout.

 May—Queen Elizabeth pays an official visit to Ireland, the first by a British monarch since independence. This symbolic visit symbolises the new relationship since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

July - Rating agency Moody's downgrades Ireland's debt rating to junk status.

The Vatican recalls its ambassador to Ireland amid tension over the issue of child abuse by priests.

 October - Michael D Higgins of Labour Party elected president.

December - Taoiseach Enda Kenny unveils budget to begin cutting deficit to no more than 3% of GDP by 2015.

September - The cost of bailing out Ireland's stricken banking system rises to 45bn euros (£39bn), pushing the country's budget deficit to around a third of GDP.

November—The government agrees to an 85bn euro rescue package with the EU and IMF in a bid to tackle the huge hole in public finances. The government drafts an austerity program entailing four years of tax rises and spending cuts.

The February employment rate reached 11%—the highest since 1996. Some 100,000 people took to Dublin's streets to protest the government's handling of the economic crisis.

March - Ireland loses its AAA debt rating as public finances deteriorate amid a deep recession.

 October - Ireland votes in a new referendum favoring the European Union's Lisbon Treaty.

 November - A damning report criticizes the Irish Catholic Church hierarchy for its handling of allegations of child abuse against 46 priests.

May—Bertie Ahern steps down as Taoiseach following controversy over his financial affairs. He is succeeded by deputy Brian Cowen.

 June - Voters reject EU's Lisbon Treaty in a referendum.

September - As the global financial crisis gathers pace, the Irish government introduces a guarantee covering the debts of the country's banks. This move ultimately sinks the economy, as Ireland does not have sufficient reserves to cover its banks' debts.

June - Bertie Ahern forms a coalition with the Progressive Democrats, several independents, and the Greens, who enter government for the first time. Mr Ahern became the first Taoiseach (prime minister) to win a third term in office since Éamon De Valera.

December - The government launches a 20-year strategy to create a bilingual, Irish- and English-speaking society.

January - Euro replaces punt as the national currency.

 March - A slight majority of voters reject the government's attempt to tighten already strict anti-abortion laws in a constitutional referendum.

 May - Voters re-elect Fianna Fáil's Bertie Ahern as prime minister in a continuing coalition with the Progressive Democrats. Fine Gael, the main opposition party, loses over a third of its seats in parliament.

October - Voters endorse Nice Treaty by comfortable margin in second referendum.

June - Voters reject Nice Treaty, blocking expansion of European Union into eastern Europe.

The Good Friday Agreement, approved by voters in the Republic and Northern Ireland, established a cross-community power-sharing assembly in the North and ended the Troubles.

Divorce becomes legal under certain circumstances.

Downing Street Declaration offers talks on future peace in Northern Ireland to all parties if violence is renounced.

 Irish voters approve of the loosening of the abortion law. Access to information is guaranteed, and travel abroad for abortion is permitted.

Ireland signs the Treaty on European Union at Maastricht and receives a guarantee that its strict anti-abortion law will not be affected.

Anglo-Irish Agreement gives Republic consultative role in government of Northern Ireland.

Amendment to the constitution enshrines the right to life of an unborn child. The Eighth Amendment is seen as laying the foundation for Ireland's strict anti-abortion laws

.

Ireland faces severe economic problems, with rising debt and unemployment. Three elections were held in less than two years.

Ireland joins the European Economic Community. Violence in Northern Ireland intensifies, and relations between Ireland and Britain are strained.

Conflict in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles, occasionally spills into the Republic of Ireland.

  Seán Lemass becomes Fianna Fáil leader and prime minister, launches economic modernization that sees Ireland move from a mainly agricultural base and

eventually join the European Economic Community.

Eire becomes the Republic of Ireland and leaves the British Commonwealth.

De Valera loses election amid economic difficulties. John Costello becomes prime minister of a broad coalition excluding Fianna Fáil.

Outbreak of World War Two. Éire remains neutral, but many Irish citizens joined the Allied forces.

New elections. The voters return to De Valera and approve a new constitution that abolishes the Irish Free State and proclaims Éire (Irish for Ireland) as a sovereign, independent, democratic state.

 De Valera became head of government after the previous administration failed to deal with economic difficulties.

The Dublin parliament ratifies the treaty despite the opposition of De Valera and others. Civil war breaks out, and hundreds are killed.

The Anglo-Irish Treaty established the Free State, an independent dominion of the British crown with full internal self-government rights, partitioned from Northern Ireland, which remains part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

 Led by Éamon De Valera, the nationalist movement Sinn Féin ('We Ourselves') sets up a Dublin assembly, the Dáil Éireann, which again proclaims Irish independence. The Irish Republican Army, or IRA, begins a guerrilla campaign against British forces, with heavy casualties on both sides.

Nationalists staged the Easter Rising, seizing the General Post Office in Dublin and proclaiming an independent Irish republic. The rising is crushed by the British, who execute its leaders, including all seven signatories of the declaration of the republic. Irish public opinion is outraged.

Outbreak of World War One delays implementation of new home rule legislation which would have restored the Dublin parliament following centuries of unrest over British dominion in Ireland.