Events during the year 2012 in Ireland.
Incumbents
President: Michael D. Higgins
Taoiseach: Enda Kenny (FG) Tánaiste: Eamon Gilmore (Lab) Minister for Finance: Michael Noonan (FG) Chief Justice: Susan Denham Dáil: 31st Seanad: 24th
Events
January
The occupation of the Vita Cortex plant in Cork, which closed in December, continued into the new year. 1 January – the Government stopped paying expenses to former taoisigh (prime ministers), while sweeping price increases for goods and services, and in value added tax (VAT), affected consumers when decisions announced in Budget 2012 came into effect. A controversial €100 household charge was applied, as were large increases in transport fares, motor taxation, and health insurance costs. 2 January – Ireland was battered by bad weather. 3 January – a large fireball was seen across Ireland. Astronomy Ireland calculated that it landed as a meteorite in the Irish Sea off County Louth. 3 January – a new €2 coin was issued by the Central Bank of Ireland as it celebrated ten years of the euro. 3 January – Occupy Cork: The NAMA-listed Stapleton House on Oliver Plunkett Street was occupied in the city. 8 January – Fine Gael politician and RTÉ broadcaster Barry O'Neill was involved in controversy when photographs appeared on Facebook of his new wife giving Nazi salutes beside models of Adolf Hitler and other Nazis during their European honeymoon. 12 January – Ulster Bank announced plans to cut 950 jobs from its Irish operations by the end of the year, with around 600 to be cut in the Republic of Ireland. 13 January – the Criminal Law (Defence and the Dwelling) Act 2012, drafted after the 2004 death of John Ward, came into effect. The new home defence law allowed householders to defend their homes against intruders using reasonable force, including deadly force. 14 January – a couple from Clonmel escaped with their lives after the 114,500-tonne Costa Concordia, with more than 4,000 people on board, ran aground off the Italian coast; they soon returned home. 15 January – a fatal fishing disaster occurred off the south west coast. Three bodies were later found; two others remain missing. 16 January – Seán Quinn, Ireland's richest person as recently as 2008, was declared bankrupt at the High Court. 16 January – Proinsias De Rossa resigned as MEP for the Dublin constituency, to be replaced by Emer Costello. 22–3 January – a strong solar proton storm created a rare display of the aurora borealis in Ireland that was observed by thousands of people in north County Donegal, and as far south as Charlestown, County Mayo. 24 January – debt campaigners dressed as zombies converged on the Irish embassy in Britain to highlight the presence of zombie banks such as the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (formerly Anglo Irish Bank). 25 January – Ireland paid another €1.25 billion to Anglo Irish Bank bondholders against the wishes of the country's people. 25 January – protesters travelled from Galway to Dublin to rally outside Leinster House against the septic tank charge being brought in by the Fine Gael/Labour coalition. 25 January – the websites of the Departments of Justice and Finance were disabled by a denial-of-service attack. 25 January – the Office of the Data Protection Commission wrote to Dublin City Council about its giving the personal details of 140,000 customers to a private waste company called Greyhound. 26 January – an earthquake classified as minor (magnitude 2.2) struck County Donegal. 26 January – Dublin officially began its term as the European City of Science 2012. 26 January – Dáil Éireann passed the Water Services Amendment Bill, allowing the government to charge rural dwellers for their septic tanks, as well as to inspect them. 26 January – Taoiseach Enda Kenny, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, told the world that Irish people "went mad borrowing" from a banking system that spawned greed. 26 January – the High Court was told that 11 gardaí were investigating sinister goings-on at Anglo Irish Bank; Mr. Justice Peter Kelly called the revelation "extraordinary".