| |
| 1973, Sept |
| |
| Ireland established formal diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. | 1 |
| |
| 1976, July 21 |
| |
| The British ambassador to Ireland, Christopher Ewart-Biggs, and his secretary were killed when an IRA land mine exploded beneath their car on the outskirts of Dublin. | 2 |
| |
| 1979, Dec. 7 and 11 |
| |
| Charles Haughey was elected leader of Fianna Fáil Party and prime minister after Jack Lynch announced his resignation from both positions on Dec. 5. | 3 |
| |
| 1983, Sept. 7 |
| |
| National referendum approved constitutional amendment on banning abortion in the Republic of Ireland. | 4 |
| |
| 1985, Nov |
| |
| The two largest unionist parties in Northern Ireland, the Official Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party, strongly denounced the Hillsborough Agreement. This agreement, signed Nov. 15 between Britain and Ireland, affirmed that no change be made in the status of Northern Ireland without majority consent while setting up an Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Council to discuss political and security issues and cross-border cooperation. Irish nationalists also denounced the agreement, but the dáil approved it, as a step toward peace, on Nov. 21. | 5 |
| |
| 1986, June |
| |
| With the help of a campaign by the Roman Catholic Church against a government proposal to legalize divorce, a referendum confirmed a constitutional ban on divorce. | 6 |
| |
| 1987, Nov. 8 |
| |
| IRA terrorism: 11 were killed and more than 60 injured in an IRA bombing in Northern Ireland when hundreds were gathering for ceremonies on Britain's Remembrance Day in Enniskillen. | 7 |
| |
| 1988, Dec |
| |
| The Irish government settled a dispute with the UK over extradition and ratified the European Convention on Terrorism. | 8 |
| |
| 1990, April |
| |
| A government bill proposed a formal abolition of the death penalty and a 40-year mandatory prison term. | 9 |
| |
| May 17 |
| |
| The general synod of the Church of Ireland voted in favor of the ordination of women as priests and bishops. | 10 |
| |
| Nov |
| |
| President Brian Lenihan was brought down by scandal; Mary Robinson was elected the first female president of Ireland. | 11 |
| |
| |
