TUES. APRIL 2, 1996: Two by-elections held in the 26 Counties — in Dublin West and Donegal North-East — resulted in narrow wins for Fianna Fáil in each constituency.
WED. APRIL 3, 1996: Additional repressive powers under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) were rushed through the British parliament at Westminster.
The British administration in the Six Occupied Counties were forced to pay out £1.4 million compensation in 1995 for damage caused by the British army and the RUC during searches of premises.
THURS. APRIL 4, 1996: An unmarked state-owned Special Branch car from the 26-County state, a dark coloured Toyota Carina Registration 93 D 31384 was seen being driven in County Fermanagh.
The number of people out of work in the 26 Counties is 302,356, according to figures supplied by the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed.
SAT. APRIL 6, 1996: The Herald group of newspapers in the Six Counties described the British list of 15 organisations who were being allowed to take part in the May 30 election as a "mockery of the idea that elections should be free".
The Andersonstown News wondered in its editorial why the British government didn't "save us all a lot of trouble and publish the results of the election as well". The paper went on to say that it did not accept the validity of the Six-County state and "neither, we contend, do the vast majority of our readers".
SUN. APRIL 7, 1996: Republicans held ceremonies at Republican graves and memorials in 27 counties over the Easter weekend to honour those who died in the fight for Irish freedom on this, the 80th Anniversary of the 1916 Rising.
MON. APRIL 8, 1996: Petrol bombs and plastic bullets were exchanged between loyalists and the RUC British paramilitary police on the Ormeau Road in Belfast during a day-long stand-off at the bridge leading to the nationalist lower Ormeau Road area.
TUES. APRIL 9, 1996: It was announced that Stephen Landers had replaced Stella Rimington as the new director-general of the British Intelligence agency, MI5.
WED. APRIL 10, 1996: The Lismore family, who were planning to move from their home at Black's Road in Belfast after years of sectarian assaults by loyalists, were attacked again with petrol bombs thrown at the house.
THURS. APRIL 11, 1996: Following the Tory Party's by-election defeat, John Major's official government majority was reduced to one.
The independent nationalist Fermanagh councillor, Tony McPhillips, announced that he would be boycotting both the May 30 election and any institution which is set up in its aftermath.
The Belfast-based Campaign for Economic Equality described the electoral list as an "insidious and insulting extension of the abuse of civil liberties, human rights and freedom of speech" and it hopes to organise a challenge to the election through the Belfast High Court, the European Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice.
The Ulster Unionist Party said that Republican Sinn Fein, the IRSP and the Peace People should not be excluded from the election list and that restricted list and the suggested designation of individuals within each party who could forward the lists of candidates, and who would nominate teams to 'all-party' negotiations was "fundamentally unsatisfactory".
FRI. APRIL 12, 1996: The Sellafield nuclear plant was fined £25,000 after admitting to "serious and significant" failures in safety that left a worker contaminated with radioactivity.
SAT. APRIL 13, 1996: The British government are to make another attempt to extradite Dubliner Anthony Duncan (26) from the 26 Counties to face charges relating to bombings in England in 1994 after an extradition case against him in Dublin District Court collapsed because of a documentation error in the British application.
More than £1 million in a loyalist area of Belfast, was stolen from the Securicor depot in Stranmillis in Belfast, the biggest robbery ever in the Six Counties.
There are 101,900 people unemployed in the Six Counties, according to the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed.
SUN. APRIL 14, 1996: The Harland and Wolff shipyards in Belfast admitted that they employ a mere 5% Catholics in their workforce.
MON. APRIL 15, 1996: A specially-convened meeting called for Republican Sinn Fein members in the nine counties of Ulster announced plans for an active boycott of the Six-County elections on May 30.
Seamus Kerr, former nationalist chairman of Omagh Council, said that he planned to judicially challenge the new election legislation for the May 30 elections when it becomes law.
The trial began in Belfast Crown Court of three men charged with the murder of a 15-year-old nationalist schoolboy on April 8, 1994.
WED. APRIL 17, 1996: A bomb exploded in an empty house in central London. No one was injured and the Provisionals' military wing claimed responsibility.
A hearing, to decide the amount of compensation for a Catholic ex-UDR soldier denied a job with the RUC's Police Authority because of his religion, was held in secret on by the Fair Employment Tribunal. No reason was given as to why the rarely-used privacy ruling was invoked.
THURS. APRIL 18, 1996: The European 'parliament' passed a motion calling on the British government to give "sympathetic consideration" to the transfer of political prisoner Patrick Kelly, who is dying of skin cancer, from Maghaberry prison in the Six Counties to Portlaoise in the 26 Counties.
A witness at the retrial of Stephen Larkin was unable to continue her testimony during the fourth day of the hearing. The woman, identified as 'Witness two', gave her evidence from behind curtains because she said she felt her life was in danger.
FRI. APRIL 19, 1996: Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, President of Republican Sinn Féin called on all nationalist representatives and specifically the SDLP and the Provisionals to boycott and deny credibility to the English election farce in the Six Occupied Counties on May 30.
President Clinton vetoed the Foreign Relations Authorisation Act, passed by the US House of Representatives Senate, which resulted in the MacBride Principles of Fair Employment not being made part of US foreign policy.
SAT. APRIL 20, 1996: Republicans from all over the 32 Counties and spanning four generations assembled in Dublin to mark the 80th anniversary of the Easter 1916 Rising.
SUN. APRIL 21, 1996: There were clashes between loyalists and the RUC after a loyalist march in Crossgar, Co Down. Bottles were thrown during the confrontation and a number of windows were broken.
27-year-old nationalist man fled his home in Mountcollyer Street, Belfast after he was attacked by a gang of men claiming to be from the UVF.
Martin Smyth, the head of the Orange Order, threatened that Orangemen may "break the law" if they are barred from marching through the nationalist lower Ormeau Road in Belfast on April 28.
TUES. APRIL 23, 1996: Independent Fermanagh Councillor Patrick McCaffrey said that May 30 election is "an attempt to paper over the undemocratic nature of the entire process".
WED. APRIL 24, 1996: The Provisionals' political wing and the SDLP announced that they will contest the May 30 elections in the Six Counties.
THURS. APRIL 25, 1996: The Fair Employment Tribunal ordered the Six-County 'Police Authority' to pay £22,639 to a Catholic man, a former UDR British soldier, who had applied for the post of armourer in 1990 but wasn't included on the short-list for the job which was made up entirely of Protestant applicants despite being as well qualified as those who eventually got the job.
The Provisionals' military wing claimed responsibility for a bomb on Hammersmith Bridge in London, which failed to go off.
FRI. APRIL 26, 1996: In an editorial the Derry Journal newspaper has labelled the May 30 election farce in the Six Counties as a "unionist political masterstroke" and said that there would be no 'all-party talks' on June 10.
SAT. APRIL 27, 1996: In a commentary on the British election legislation in the Andersonstown News, Belfast , community activist Fr Des Wilson pointed out that the Bill was the most undemocratic produced anywhere in the world, excepting the Nazi decrees depriving the Jews of their citizen rights.
Republican prisoners in Limerick jail who have been denied outdoor recreation for the past two-and-a-half months as their campaign to win political status continues inside and outside the prison have drawn up a list of demands and stated that these conditions are available to political prisoners in Portlaoise prison.
FRI.-SAT. APRIL 27-28, 1996: The campaign to boycott the English election farce on May 30 began in earnest with postering and leafleting in Border areas.
SUN. APRIL 28, 1996: Michael Ancram, a British Six-County minister said that adherence to the Mitchell Principles, including those on "decommissioning" was compulsory for participation in the June 10 "all-party" talks.
The British government admitted that former Six-County minister, Michael Mates, had been holding talks with the Provisionals since February 9 last in an attempt to have the ceasefire restored.
Orangemen held a prayer service at the bridge on the Ormeau Road in Belfast after they were prevented from marching through the nationalist lower Ormeau Road by the RUC.
It was announced by General Motors that their subsidiary, the Packard Electric plant in Tallaght, is to close in July with the loss of 800 jobs.
The British-sponsored Families Against Intimidation and Terror (FAIT) was facing an uncertain future after it emerged that its founder Nancy Gracey used group funds totalling £800 to buy personal items while on a free holiday in America paid for by businessman Tom Treacey.
MON. APRIL 29, 1996: The Bill legislating for the May 30 elections was rushed through Westminster and became law.
The Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign which represents relatives of the 14 people shot dead on January 30, 1972 by British paratroopers announced that they intend holding an unofficial inquiry into the deaths next year, the 25th anniversary of the killings.
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