Editing 2003 in Ireland

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{{For|Northern Ireland|2003 in Northern Ireland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=August 2022}}
{{YearInIrelandNav|2003}}
Events from the year '''2003 in Ireland'''.

==Incumbents==
* [[President of Ireland|President]]: [[Mary McAleese]]
* [[Taoiseach]]: [[Bertie Ahern]] ([[Fianna Fáil|FF]])
* [[Tánaiste]]: [[Mary Harney]] ([[Progressive Democrats|PD]])
* [[Minister for Finance (Ireland)|Minister for Finance]]: [[Charlie McCreevy]] ([[Fianna Fáil|FF]])
* [[Chief Justice of Ireland|Chief Justice]]: [[Ronan Keane]]
* [[Dáil Éireann|Dáil]]: [[29th Dáil|29th]]
* [[Seanad Éireann|Seanad]]: [[22nd Seanad|22nd]]

==Events==
* 21 January – The [[Spire of Dublin]] on [[O'Connell Street]] was completed.
* 16 February – One hundred thousand people in [[Dublin]], and 30,000 in [[Belfast]] marched to express their opposition to the imminent invasion of [[Iraq]].
* 7 April – President [[George W. Bush]] of the United States arrived in [[Northern Ireland]] for discussions with UK Prime Minister, [[Tony Blair]]. He also met [[Taoiseach]] [[Bertie Ahern]], and the leaders of the [[Belfast Agreement|pro-agreement]] parties.
* 21 June – The [[2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games]] were opened by the former President of South Africa, [[Nelson Mandela]], in [[Croke Park]], Dublin.
* 31 August – The remains of [[Belfast]] mother [[Jean McConville]] were found 31 years after she was abducted and murdered by the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|Provisional IRA]], who accused her of being a British Army agent.
* 15 September – For the first time, the [[2003 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final|All-Ireland Football Final]] was contested by two teams from the same province. [[Tyrone GAA|Tyrone]] were victorious over [[Armagh GAA|Armagh]] in the first All-[[Ulster]] Final.
* 31 October – The [[2003 Derrybrien landslide]] occurred on the side of Cashlaundrumlahan, a hill near [[Derrybrien]] in [[County Galway]]. It was focused around turbine 68 in the Derrybrien wind farm, and disrupted further construction.
* 27 November – The people of Northern Ireland went to the polls. The [[Democratic Unionist Party]] and [[Sinn Féin]] made massive gains at the expense of more moderate unionist and nationalist parties.

==Arts and literature==
* May – [[Claire Kilroy]]'s debut novel ''All Summer'' was published.
* 20 May – [[Mark O'Rowe]]'s play ''Crestfall'' premièred at the [[Gate Theatre]], Dublin.<ref>{{cite web|title=Crestfall|url=http://www.irishplayography.com/play.aspx?playid=30696|work=Playography Ireland|publisher=Irish Theatre Institute|location=Dublin|access-date=23 July 2017}}</ref>
* 25 November – The contents of [[Lissadell House]] in [[County Sligo]] were auctioned.
* December – The tree-planting [[amaptocare]] public art project in [[Ballymun]] was launched.
* [[Hugo Hamilton (writer)|Hugo Hamilton]]'s memoir ''The Speckled People'' was published.
* [[Paul Murray (author)|Paul Murray]]'s comic novel ''[[An Evening of Long Goodbyes]]'' was published.
* ''[[My Name Is Red]]'' by [[Orhan Pamuk]] won the [[International Dublin Literary Award]].

==Music==
{{main|2003 in Irish music}}

==Sport==

===Association football===
* The [[League of Ireland]] moved from a predominantly winter season to a Scandinavian-style summer season. [[Bohemian F.C.|Bohemians]] won the transitional 2002/03 season and [[Shelbourne F.C.|Shelbourne]] won the 2003 championship.

===Gaelic games===
* [[All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship|All-Ireland Hurling Final]] – Kilkenny 1–14, Cork 1–11.
* [[All-Ireland Senior Football Championship|All-Ireland Football Final]] – Tyrone 0–12, Armagh 0–9.

===Golf===
* [[Irish Open (golf)|Nissan Irish Open]] was won by [[Michael Campbell]] (New Zealand).

===Rugby union===
* [[2003 Rugby World Cup|Rugby World Cup]] – [[Ireland national rugby union team|Ireland]] reached the quarter-finals of the competition before being beaten by France.
* [[2003 Six Nations Championship]]: Ireland lost only to England, who won the tournament with a [[Grand Slam (rugby union)|grand slam]].
* [[2002–03 Heineken Cup]]: [[Munster Rugby|Munster]] and [[Leinster Rugby|Leinster]] advanced from the pool stage and both were defeated in the semi-finals.  The final was played in [[Lansdowne Road]].

==Births==
* 14 March – [[Sean Roughan]], footballer
* 16 May – [[Louise Little (cricketer)|Louise Little]], cricketer
* 6 June – [[Johnny Kenny]], footballer
* 7 November – [[Lara McDonnell]], actress

==Deaths==
<!--These are description lists; please see [[Help:List]] before changing-->
;January to June
:8 January – [[Patrick Pery, 6th Earl of Limerick]], peer and public servant (born 1930).
:21 January – [[Tony O'Malley]], painter (born 1913).
:23 January – Aodhagán Brioscú, last surviving founder of Irish cultural organisation [[Gael Linn]].
:29 January – [[Irish of Vincennes|Mary Reid]], one of the "Irish of Vincennes", falsely arrested in France on terrorism charges.
:16 February – [[Seán Ó Cionnaith]], [[Workers' Party (Ireland)|Workers' Party]] politician (born 1938).
:25 February – [[Tom O'Higgins]], barrister and judge, [[Chief Justice of Ireland|Chief Justice]], [[Fine Gael]] TD and twice defeated Irish presidential candidate (born 1916).
:11 March – [[Brian Cleeve]], writer and television broadcaster (born 1921).
:17 March – [[Linda Kavanagh]], [[Workers' Party (Ireland)|Workers' Party]] activist and [[Dublin City Council]] member.
:2 April – Pat Leavy, actress.
:6 April – [[Ian Malone]], member of British Army's [[Irish Guards]], shot dead in [[Iraq]] (born 1974).
:28 May – [[James Plunkett]], novelist, author of ''[[Strumpet City]]''. (born 1920).
:30 June – [[Constance Smith]], actress (born 1928).
;July to September
:16 July – [[James Kelly (Irish Army officer)|James Kelly]], former Irish Army officer cleared of attempting to import arms for the [[Irish Republican Army|IRA]] in the 1970 [[Arms Trial]] (born 1929).
:17 July – Eamonn Leahy, barrister and husband of Cabinet Minister [[Mary Hanafin]].
:28 July – [[Valerie Goulding]], former Senator and campaigner for the disabled (born 1918).
:3 August – Phil Monahan, founder of Monarch Properties Holdings Limited, leaving an estate worth €26.7 million.
:12 August – [[Kieran Kelly (jockey)|Kieran Kelly]], jump jockey after a racing accident (born 1978).
:14 August – [[Donal Lamont]], former Catholic Bishop in [[Rhodesia]] (born 1911).
:19 August – [[Dennis Flynn]], soldier in Canada, [[Chairman of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto]] (born 1923)
:20 September – Liam Tobin, longtime ''Árd Rúnaí Roinn na Gaeltachta'' and [[Irish language]] campaigner
:24 September – Tomás MacGabhann, trade unionist and Irish language activist
:28 September – [[Proinsias Mac Aonghusa]], journalist, broadcaster, chairman [[Bord na Gaeilge]], president [[Conradh na Gaeilge]] (born 1933).
;October to December
:7 October – Frank Roe, former President of the Circuit Court.
:16 October – [[Ernest Bodell]], cricketer (born 1928).
:10 December – [[Sean McClory]], actor (born 1924).
:12 December – John McConnell, economics expert, journalist and civil servant.
:27 December – [[Patrick J. Reynolds (politician)|Patrick J. Reynolds]], [[Fine Gael]] [[Teachta Dála|TD]] and [[Seanad Éireann|Senator]] (born 1920).
:30 December – [[Archbishop]] [[Michael Courtney]] [[Papal Nuncio]] to [[Burundi]] who was assassinated.
:31 December – [[Gerald Goldberg]], lawyer, [[Fianna Fáil]] politician and first Jewish [[Lord Mayor of Cork]] (born 1912).

==See also==
*[[2003 in Irish television]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Years in Ireland}}
{{Year in Europe|2003}}