Events from the year 2005 in Ireland. Incumbents President: Mary McAleese Taoiseach: Bertie Ahern (FF) Tánaiste: Mary Harney (PD) Minister for Finance: Brian Cowen (FF) Chief Justice: John L. Murray Dáil: 29th Seanad: 22nd Events January 1 January – The Health Service Executive was established along with the HSE National Ambulance Service. Cork officially became the European Capital of Culture for 2005. Ireland celebrated the Hamilton year of physics. Littlepace housing estate in Clonee was struck by a small tornado. 4 January – Eleven-year-old Robert Holohan went missing from his East Cork home, prompting a nationwide search. His body was found eight days later. 6 January – The Irish Farmers Association celebrated its 50th anniversary. 8 January – Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, visited the area of South-East Asia devastated by the recent tsunami. 18 January – Taoiseach Bertie Ahern began a trade mission to China, accompanied by one third of the Cabinet, including Micheál Martin, Mary Hanafin, Mary Coughlan and Noel Dempsey. 20 January – Ireland changed all road signage and regulations to use kilometres per hour (km/h). Distance and speed in Northern Ireland remained in miles per hour. 24 January – Former Minister for Justice Ray Burke was jailed for six months for tax evasion, as a result of legislation he introduced. He was the first Cabinet minister to be jailed as a result of tribunals of inquiry. February 7 February – Taoiseach Bertie Ahern laid the foundation stone of a new town called Adamstown, just outside Lucan, County Dublin. 17 February – Seven people were detained by the Garda Síochána for suspected activities in relation to a bank heist in Belfast in December 2004. £2.3 million sterling was seized in County Cork. March 4 March – The 100th Sinn Féin Ard-Fheis opened at the Royal Dublin Society in Ballsbridge, Dublin. 11 March – The Irish Sugar Company factory in Carlow closed with the loss of several hundred jobs. It was Ireland's oldest sugar factory. 27 March – Cian O'Connor was stripped of his Olympic gold medal after the sports ruling body find that his horse, Waterford Crystal, had banned substances in its system during the Olympic Games in 2004. April 4 April – The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, was appointed as one of four special envoys for United Nations reform by the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan. 8 April – President Mary McAleese and