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| 1998, Feb. 20 |
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| Sinn Fein was briefly suspended from Northern Ireland's peace talks after the British government connected the organization to two murders that had been committed earlier that month. Sinn Fein resumed its participation in the negotiations on March 23. | 1 |
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| April 10 |
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| After some 20 months of arbitration, negotiators in Northern Ireland approved the historic Good Friday Accord, a peace agreement involving eight of the ten political parties in Northern Ireland. The conference was headed by former U.S. senator George Mitchell, and the team of international mediators included British prime minister Tony Blair, Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern, and U.S. president Bill Clinton. The accord established that Protestants would share political power with the minority Catholics, giving the Republic of Ireland a hand in the affairs of Northern Ireland. | 2 |
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| May 22 |
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| The Good Friday Accord was overwhelmingly approved by referendums in the Irish Republic and in Northern Ireland. | 3 |
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| July 12 |
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| The slaying of three Catholic boys in the town of Ballymoney during a Protestant march through Catholic neighborhoods dampened the spirit of peace that had followed the April 10th peace agreement. | 4 |
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| Aug. 15 |
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| In the town of Omagh, 28 people died in a bomb attack that was attributed to a splinter group calling itself the Real IRA. | 5 |
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| Sept. 14 |
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| The Northern Ireland Assembly met at the Stormont building in Belfast for its first working session. Four days later Northern Ireland freed the first 24 prisoners who were to benefit from the terms of the recent peace settlement. | 6 |
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| Oct |
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| Sinn Fein leader John Hume and Ulster Unionist David Trimble were awarded the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland. | 7 |
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| Dec. 18 |
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| Protestant and Catholic leaders reached an agreement on the organization and structure of the new coalition government and met to further develop the dual political authority in Northern Ireland. | 8 |
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