The political week in years gone by: Cosmonauts, radioactive sheep, victory for Lynch and heaves against Enda

Among nine Fine Gael members who expressed no confidence in party leader Enda Kenny in 2010 were Denis Naughton and colleagues Olivia Mitchell, Olwyn Enright, Billy Timmons, Brian Hayes, Simon Coveney, Leo Vadakar, Fergus O'Dowd and Michael Creed. 

Deputy political editor, Elaine Loughlin, continues her weekly trawl through the archives and highlights some of the major political events which were making the headlines this week in years gone by.

1945

 June 18: Sean T. O’Kelly became the second President of Ireland after contesting the election against General Sean Mac Eoin and Dr Patrick McCartan.

1963 

June 17: Under the front page headline: 'Woman in Orbit is Fine', the Cork Examiner reported on the first female cosmonaut Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova. In the piece it was claimed: "There is no reason at all why a woman should not be as successful a 'spaceman' as a man and a number of reasons for thinking women might be more suitable. They are not so strong muscularly as men, but they are quite as tough physically, as medical certificates well show."

1969 

June 18: A General Election marked a third successive victory for Fianna Fáil, led by Jack Lynch. The Cork Examiner reported that Mr Lynch "led his Ministers back to office with a splendid personal performance".

1986

June 21: Under the headline 'Radioactive Sheep', it was reported that Ireland's multi-million-pound sheep industry could be seriously disrupted following the discovery of high levels of radiation in mutton samples tested by the Nuclear Energy Board.

2010 

June 17: Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny survived an attempt to oust him after nine members of Fine Gael came out to say they had no confidence in him. Conor Ryan, the Examiner's Political Correspondent at the time. wrote that the heave left ‘Agent Enda’ at the helm and Fianna Fáil happy. His analysis is well worth looking back on.

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