capital punishment for all offences and replaced it with lengthy prison sentences. 24 July – The Irish Republican Army (IRA) killed three policemen and a nun in a bomb attack near Armagh. 24 August – Brian Keenan was released after 1,574 days in captivity in Beirut. September – Janet Catterall became the first woman in Ireland to be ordained as a priest in the Church of Ireland. 28 September – The centenary of People's Park in Dún Laoghaire, was celebrated. 24 October – The IRA killed six soldiers and a civilian in proxy bomb attacks in Derry and Newry. 25 October – Presidential candidate Brian Lenihan denied that he tried to contact President Hillery to stop the dissolution of the Dáil in 1982. This was in spite of a taped interview where he confirmed that he did. 31 October – Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Brian Lenihan was dismissed from the government over the 1982 Hillery telephone call controversy. 9 November – Mary Robinson was elected the seventh President of Ireland. 3 December – Mary Robinson was inaugurated as the first female President of Ireland. Patrick Hillery retired after 14 years as Head of State. Undated The pro-cathedral in Ennis was rededicated as a cathedral. Arts and literature 24 April – Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa opened at the Abbey Theatre. May – Marita Conlon-McKenna's children's historical novel Under the Hawthorn Tree, the first in her Children of the Famine trilogy, was published by the O'Brien Press. August – Declan Hughes' first play, I Can't Get Started, opened (first in Dublin 10 November). 2 October – British television sitcom Only Fools and Horses was broadcast for the first time in Ireland with the series screening on Network 2. 13 November – Tugs, a British short lived children's television series began on Network 2. Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters opened at the Gate Theatre with Sinéad, Sorcha and Niamh Cusack in the title roles and their father Cyril as Dr. Chebutykin. Jim Sheridan's film The Field was shown. Shaun Davey's The Relief of Derry Symphony was composed. Maeve Binchy's novel Circle of Friends was published. Roddy Doyle's novel The Snapper, second of The Barrytown Trilogy, was published. John McGahern's novel Amongst Women was published. Colm Tóibín's first novel The South was published. CBI Book of the Year Awards for writers and illustrators of children's literature originated as Bisto Book of the Decade