2009 Lisbon II referendum

The Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland permitted the state to ratify the Lisbon Treaty of the European Union. It was effected by the Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution (Treaty of Lisbon) Act 2009, which was approved by referendum on 2 October 2009 sometimes known as the Lisbon II referendum. The amendment was approved by the Irish electorate by 67.1% to 32.9%, on a turnout of 59%. Following the referendum, Dáil Éireann (the lower house of parliament) gave its approval to the Treaty on 8 October 2009. The President of Ireland Mary McAleese signed the amendment of the constitution into law on 15 October. The Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on 1 December 2009.

2008 Bertie Ahern resigned as Taoiseach

Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern (born in 1951, age 63) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 1997 to 2008. Ahern served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1977 to 2011 and he represented the constituency of Dublin Central. Before he became Taoiseach, he served in the governments of Charles Haughey and Albert Reynolds as Minister for Labour (1987–91) and Minister for Finance (1991–94). In 1994, Ahern was elected sixth leader of Fianna Fáil. Under Ahern's leadership Fianna Fáil led three coalition governments. After Éamon de Valera, Bertie Ahern's term as Taoiseach is the longest. Ahern resigned as Taoiseach in 2008, in the wake of revelations made in Mahon Tribunal. The Mahon Tribunal found that Ahern, while not judged corrupt, had received monies from developers and the Tribunal disbelieved his explanations of those payments.

2001 Irish constitutional referendums

Three referendums were held simultaneously in Ireland on 7 June 2001, each on a proposed amendment of the Constitution of Ireland. Two of the measures were approved, while the third was rejected. The two successful amendments concerned the death penalty and the International Criminal Court. The failed amendment concerned the Treaty of Nice. To the surprise of the Irish government and the other EU member states Irish voters rejected the Treaty of Nice. The turnout itself was low (34%), partly a result of the failure of the major Irish political parties to mount a strong campaign on the issue, presuming that the Irish electorate would pass the Treaty as all previous such Treaties had been passed by big majorities. However many Irish voters were critical of the Treaty contents, believing that it marginalised smaller states. Others questioned the impact of the Treaty on Irish neutrality.

1999 Euro

Ireland yielded its official currency the Irish pound and adopted the Euro in 1999. The euro is the official currency of the eurozone, which consists of 19 of the 28 member states of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. The currency is also officially used by the institutions of the European Union and four other European countries, as well as unilaterally by two others, and is consequently used daily by some 337 million Europeans as of 2015.

1995 The Celtic Tiger period

Celtic Tiger refers to the economy of the Republic of Ireland between 1995 and 2000, a period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment, and a subsequent property price bubble which rendered the real economy uncompetitive. The Irish economy expanded at an average rate of 9.4% between 1995 and 2000 and continued to grow at an average rate of 5.9% during the following decade until 2008, when it fell into recession. The term refers to Ireland's similarity to the East Asian Tigers: Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan during their periods of rapid growth. An Tíogar Ceilteach, the Irish language version of the term, appears in the official terminology database and has been used regularly in government and administrative contexts.

1990 Mary Robinson the first female President of Ireland

Mary Therese Winifred Robinson (born 21 May 1944, age 70) served as the seventh, and first female, President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 1997 to 2002. She defeated Fianna Fáil's Brian Lenihan and Fine Gael's Austin Currie in the 1990 presidential election becoming, as an Independent candidate nominated by the Labour Party, the Workers' Party and independent senators, the first elected president in the office's history not to have had the support of Fianna Fáil. She is widely regarded as a transformative figure for Ireland, and for the Irish presidency, revitalising and liberalising a previously conservative, low-profile political office. She resigned the presidency two months ahead of the end of her term of office to take up her post in the United Nations.

1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement

The Anglo-Irish Agreement was an agreement between the United Kingdom and Ireland which aimed to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The treaty gave the Irish government an advisory role in Northern Ireland's government while confirming that there would be no change in the constitutional position of Northern Ireland unless a majority of its people agreed to join the Republic. It also set out conditions for the establishment of a devolved consensus government in the region. The Agreement was signed on 15 November 1985 at Hillsborough Castle, by the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and the Irish Taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald.