page_title: 2009 in Ireland
section_title: August
hierarchical_section_title: 2009 in Ireland / Events / August
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Mary Robinson erhält die Presidential Medal of Freedom im August 2009 English: Mary Robinson receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in August 2009
context_page_description: Events from the year 2009 in Ireland.
  Taoiseach Brian Cowen described 2009 as the most challenging of his career in politics.
context_section_description: 5 August – a murder investigation was launched after a woman's body was discovered under a tree in Phoenix Park. The woman was later found to be 50-year-old Eugenia Bratis from Timișoara in Romania, who had been in Ireland for several months. Her torso was stabbed several times.
  12 August – former President Mary Robinson received the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama at a ceremony in the White House in Washington, D.C., with Obama declaring her to have "not only shown a light on human suffering, but illuminated a better future for our world".
  21 August – a section of the main Dublin to Belfast railway line collapsed in Malahide in north Dublin. A 20-metre section of viaduct on the Broadmeadow estuary, between Malahide and Donabate gave way. A preliminary assessment carried out on 24 August identified significant erosion of the seabed as a possible reason for the collapse. The viaduct reopened to traffic on 16 November.
caption: Former President Mary Robinson received the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. President Barack Obama
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