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See also:	2003 in Northern Ireland Other events of 2003 List of years in Ireland

Events from the year2003 in Ireland.

• President:Mary McAleese
• Taoiseach:Bertie Ahern (FF)
• Tánaiste:Mary Harney (PD)
• Minister for Finance:Charlie McCreevy (FF)
• Chief Justice:Ronan Keane
• Dáil:29th
• Seanad:22nd

• 21 January – TheSpire of Dublin onO'Connell Street was completed.
• 16 February – One hundred thousand people inDublin, and 30,000 inBelfast marched to express their opposition to the imminent invasion ofIraq.
• 7 April – PresidentGeorge W. Bush of the United States arrived inNorthern Ireland for discussions with UK Prime Minister,Tony Blair. He also metTaoiseachBertie Ahern, and the leaders of thepro-agreement parties.
• 21 June – The2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games were opened by the former President of South Africa,Nelson Mandela, inCroke Park, Dublin.
• 31 August – The remains ofBelfast motherJean McConville were found 31 years after she was abducted and murdered by theProvisional IRA, who accused her of being a British Army agent.
• 15 September – For the first time, theAll-Ireland Football Final was contested by two teams from the same province.Tyrone were victorious overArmagh in the first All-Ulster Final.
• 31 October – The2003 Derrybrien landslide occurred on the side of Cashlaundrumlahan, a hill nearDerrybrien inCounty 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. TheDemocratic Unionist Party andSinn Féin made massive gains at the expense of more moderate unionist and nationalist parties.

• May –Claire Kilroy's debut novelAll Summer was published.
• 20 May –Mark O'Rowe's playCrestfall premièred at theGate Theatre, Dublin.^[1]
• 25 November – The contents ofLissadell House inCounty Sligo were auctioned.
• December – The tree-plantingamaptocare public art project inBallymun was launched.
• Hugo Hamilton's memoirThe Speckled People was published.
• Paul Murray's comic novelAn Evening of Long Goodbyes was published.
• My Name Is Red byOrhan Pamuk won theInternational Dublin Literary Award.

• TheLeague of Ireland moved from a predominantly winter season to a Scandinavian-style summer season.Bohemians won the transitional 2002/03 season andShelbourne won the 2003 championship.

• All-Ireland Hurling Final – Kilkenny 1–14, Cork 1–11.
• All-Ireland Football Final – Tyrone 0–12, Armagh 0–9.

• Nissan Irish Open was won byMichael Campbell (New Zealand).

• Rugby World Cup –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 agrand slam.
• 2002–03 Heineken Cup:Munster andLeinster advanced from the pool stage and both were defeated in the semi-finals. The final was played inLansdowne Road.

• 14 March –Sean Roughan, footballer
• 16 May –Louise Little, cricketer
• 6 June –Johnny Kenny, footballer
• 7 November –Lara McDonnell, actress

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 organisationGael Linn.

29 January –Mary Reid, one of the "Irish of Vincennes", falsely arrested in France on terrorism charges.

16 February –Seán Ó Cionnaith,Workers' Party politician (born 1938).

25 February –Tom O'Higgins, barrister and judge,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 activist andDublin City Council member.

2 April – Pat Leavy, actress.

6 April –Ian Malone, member of British Army'sIrish Guards, shot dead inIraq (born 1974).

28 May –James Plunkett, novelist, author ofStrumpet City. (born 1920).

30 June –Constance Smith, actress (born 1928).

July to September

16 July –James Kelly, former Irish Army officer cleared of attempting to import arms for theIRA in the 1970Arms Trial (born 1929).

17 July – Eamonn Leahy, barrister and husband of Cabinet MinisterMary 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, jump jockey after a racing accident (born 1978).

14 August –Donal Lamont, former Catholic Bishop inRhodesia (born 1911).

19 August –Dennis Flynn, soldier in Canada,Chairman of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto (born 1923)

20 September – Liam Tobin, longtimeÁrd Rúnaí Roinn na Gaeltachta andIrish language campaigner

24 September – Tomás MacGabhann, trade unionist and Irish language activist

28 September –Proinsias Mac Aonghusa, journalist, broadcaster, chairmanBord na Gaeilge, presidentConradh 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,Fine GaelTD andSenator (born 1920).

30 December –ArchbishopMichael CourtneyPapal Nuncio toBurundi who was assassinated.

31 December –Gerald Goldberg, lawyer,Fianna Fáil politician and first JewishLord Mayor of Cork (born 1912).

• 2003 in Irish television

• 2003 in Ireland
• 2000s in Ireland
• Years of the 21st century in Ireland
• 2003 in Europe
• 2003 by country

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