Gallery: 2023 year in review

Republican Kevin McCarthy is elected speaker of the US House of Representatives following 15 rounds of voting. As he took the gavel for the first time, Mr McCarthy represented the end of Joe Biden’s Democrats’ hold on both chambers of Congress.

Singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis Presley, died on 12 January aged 54. A Los Angeles coroner ruled that she died from natural causes following complications from weight loss surgery.

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, killing tens of thousands of people. Mesut Hancer holds the hand of his 15-year-old daughter Irmak, who died in the quake in the southeast of Turkey.

An off-duty senior PSNI officer was seriously injured after being shot several times at a sports complex in Omagh, Co Tyrone after coaching a youth sports team. Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell was shot by masked men in front of young people.

TV presenter and comedian Paul O’Grady died at the age of 67. The Birkenhead-born star had family roots in counties Roscommon and Louth.

The Northern Irish comedy-drama ‘An Irish Goodbye’ won Best Live-Action Short Film and Dubliner Richard Baneham has won his second visual effects Oscar for his work on ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ at the 95th Academy Awards

Actors Barry Keoghan, Paul Mescal and Kerry Condon pictured ahead of the Oscars ceremony in LA. All three, as well as Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell, were nominated in the acting categories at the Oscars.

Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch was found not guilty in April of the murder of David Byrne, the Kinahan gang member who was shot dead at the Regency Hotel in 2016. The 60-year-old from the Paddocks in Clontarf, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to the charge.

In April Mark Sheehan, guitarist with The Script, died at the age of 46 following a brief illness. The Script formed in Dublin in 2001 and sold over 20 million albums, scoring huge hits with the likes of ‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’

US President Joe Biden wraps up his April visit to Ireland by addressing 27,000 people on the banks of the River Moy. It was a homecoming trip for Mr Biden whose great-great-great grandfather left Ballina for Pennsylvania in the 1850s.

On 26 May Ryan Tubridy presented his final episode of The Late Late Show after 14 years. He announced in March that he would be vacating the presenter’s chair, and was replaced by Patrick Kielty.

On 24 May singer Tina Turner died at the age of 83 after a long illness. In a career spanning more than 60 years, the American-Swiss singer secured her status as the queen of rock ‘n’ roll with a catalogue of powerful hits including ‘Simply The Best’.

On 7 May Britain’s King Charles III was anointed and crowned in the UK’s biggest ceremonial event for seven decades, a sumptuous display of pageantry dating back 1,000 years.

In June a Syrian man found his brother among shipwreck survivors in Greece in a tearful reunion. Fadi embraced his 18-year-old brother Mohammad through the gates at the port of Kalamata after a boat capsized and sank off the coast of Greece.

Four Indigenous children who had been missing for more than a month in the Colombian Amazon rainforest were found alive in June. The children survived a small plane crash in the jungle. (Pic: Colombian Military Forces/Handout)

Rhasidat Adeleke won gold at the NCAA Championships in Texas, breaking her own Irish 400m record. The 20-year-old became the first Irish sprinter to win a NCAA title after she registered a meet-record time of 49.20.

Pop superstar Harry Styles wowed 80,000 fans at Slane Castle, Co Meath in June. His gig was the first post-pandemic concert at the venue with Metallica last playing there in 2019. (Pic: Lloyd Wakefield)

Aslan frontman Christy Dignam died at the age of 63 following a long illness. The Finglas native, who was open about his struggles with addiction and recovery, was a unique and much loved figure in Irish music.

A submarine named Titan went missing off the coast of Canada while taking tourists to explore the wreckage of the Titanic. All five people on board were killed when the vessel imploded, which is believed to have occurred during its 18 June descent.

Ryan Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly pictured leaving an Oireachtas Committee meeting in July where they appeared over undisclosed payments to Mr Tubridy by RTÉ. The controversy plunged the national broadcaster into crisis.

Cinemagoers got into the ‘Barbenheimer’ spirit with the opening of Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ and Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ in cinemas in July.

Floral tributes outside the home of singer-songwriter Sinead O’Connor, who died on 26 July aged 56. She was propelled to international stardom in 1990 with her version of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ and recorded ten solo albums over her career.

The Irish women’s football team returned home in August to a rousing welcome in Dublin after their historic first trek to a World Cup. The team’s captain Katie McCabe told the crowd that it was “just the start” for the Irish team.

A major disaster was declared by US President Joe Biden after Hawaii’s Maui island was devastated by wildfires. More than 100 people died in the wildfires, which also forced thousands of people to evacuate the island.

In August former US president Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to charges that he led a criminal conspiracy to overturn his 2020 election loss in the southern state of Georgia. He was the first US president in history to face criminal charges.

In September the Sycamore Gap tree, one of the UK’s most photographed trees, was felled overnight. Police said that the incident was a deliberate act of vandalism, four people were arrested in connection to it.

Archaeologists excavating sites along the route of a new motorway in Cork made a number of findings in September. The findings included the home of one of the first farmers to settle in the area, which was believed to be almost 6,000 years old.

Over 2,000kg of cocaine were seized off the Cork coast in September, which gardaí described as the largest haul in the history of the State. The drugs were found on the MV Matthew bulk container ship, and worth an estimated €157 million.

A refrigerated container holds the bodies of Israeli citizens killed in attacks by Hamas on 7 October. 1,400 Israelis were killed in the attack, 240 people were taken hostage by Hamas. The attacks sparked deadly fighting between Israel and Gaza.

There was severe floods and extensive damage in Midleton, Co Cork following Storm Babet. Parts of Co Cork were got more than a month’s rainfall in less that 24 hours during the storm. (Pic: @realLiamMac)

Mike Johnson (R) was elected speaker of the US House of Representatives in October after Kevin McCarthy was ousted by a small group of hardline Republicans

In late October ‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry died at the age of 54. The actor was best known for playing Chandler Bing in the sitcom which aired from 1994 to 2004.

A bus is on fire on Dublin’s O’Connell Street during a night of unrest in the city centre. The unrest started following a knife attack in which three children and a woman were injured. A Luas tram was also set alight while some shops were looted.

Nine-year-old Irish-Israeli girl Emily Hand was reunited with her family 50 days after being kidnapped by Hamas. Emily was met by her father Tom following her release as part of a deal that saw 16 other hostages also freed.

The coffin of Shane MacGowan passes Philip Ryan’s Pub following his funeral in Nenagh, Co Tipperary. The Pogues frontman died on 30 November at the age of 65 following a long illness.

Smoke rises over Gaza following further airstrikes by Israel. In December, the Hamas-run government said that more than 20,000 people were killed in Gaza since 7 October.