Events during the year 2018 in Ireland. Incumbents President: Michael D. Higgins Taoiseach: Leo Varadkar (FG) Tánaiste: Simon Coveney (FG) Minister for Finance: Paschal Donohoe (FG) Chief Justice: Frank Clarke Dáil: 32nd Seanad: 25th Events January 1 January TDs rang in the new year with a pay increase of €3,600, with a further increase to follow in October, bringing the total increase in 2018 to €4,500, yielding an annual salary of €94,500. The Road Safety Authority (RSA), published provisional statistics for 2017, which showed a 15% drop in road deaths compared with the previous year. A total of 158 people died on Ireland's roads compared to 186 lives lost in 2016. It represented 28 fewer fatalities on the previous year and was the lowest figure for annual road deaths since they were first officially recorded in 1959. 2 January A record 656 patients were on trolleys or on wards waiting for admission to a bed, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation. Met Éireann issued two Status Orange warnings as Storm Eleanor swept across the country bringing gusts of up to 130 km/h and flooding in some areas. Up to 55,000 ESB customers in the west and north west of the country were left without power. 3 January – The level of hospital overcrowding increased to a national record of 677 patients, according to the latest figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation. 4 January – Taoiseach Leo Varadkar apologised to patients who have experienced long delays and waits on trolleys in emergency departments as the Health Service Executive revealed that there were 12 children on trolleys in the three children's hospitals in Dublin. 6 January – The diocese of Down and Connor suspended the sign of peace between people at mass in response to the surge in cases of influenza. 7 January – Met Éireann issued a Status Orange low temperature warning for many counties, with temperatures plummeting to as low as -6C over night. 8 January – Sinn Féin MP Barry McElduff was suspended from all party activity for three months after he posted a video online that relatives of the victims of the 1976 Kingsmill massacre described as callous and offensive. He resigned as an MP a week later. 12 January – Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney met new Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley for the first time. The two ministers discussed the re-establishment