The year in pictures

MAY

* Brady accused: Cardinal Seán Brady was under renewed pressure to step down after a television programme alleged he failed to hand over a list of children being abused by Brendan Smyth — the country’s most notorious paedophile priest — to the victims’ parents or the gardaí.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter described the testimony of an abuse victim, who claimed to have handed over a list of victims to the cardinal in 1975, as “tragic and disturbing”.