Dublin ( , or ) is the
largest city (being a primate city )
and capital of Ireland
. It is officially known in
Irish as
Baile Átha Cliath
or
Áth Cliath ; the English name comes from the Irish
Dubh Linn meaning "black pool".
It is located near the
midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey
and at the centre of the Dublin Region. Originally founded as a
Viking settlement, it evolved into the
Kingdom of Dublin and became the
island's primary city following the
Norman invasion. Today, it is
ranked 23rd (down from 10th in 2008) in the
Global Financial Centres
Index, has one of the fastest growing populations of any
European capital city, and is listed by the
GaWC as a
global city, with
a ranking of Alpha - which places Dublin amongst the top 25 cities
in the world.
Dublin is a historical and contemporary
cultural centre for the island of
Ireland
as well as a modern centre of education, the arts,
administrative function, economy and industry.
Name
The name Dublin is derived from the Irish name
Dubh Linn
(meaning "black pool"). In Irish,
Dubh is correctly
pronounced as
Du'v
or
Du'f. The city's original pronunciation is
preserved in
Old Norse as
Dy'f
lin, Old
English as Dif
elin, and modern
Manx as
Div
lyn.
Historically, in the traditional Gaelic script used for the Irish
language, bh was written with a dot over the b,
rendering 'Du Linn' or 'Du linn'. Those
without a knowledge of Irish omitted the dot and spelled the name
as Dublin.
The common name for the city in Modern Irish is (meaning "town of
the hurdled ford"). An early mention is the
Táin Bó Cuailgne also known
as
The Cattle Raid of
Cooley (with an incorrect etymology)
Go Dublind rissa
ratter Áth Cliath, or
to Dublin, which is called Ath
Cliath.
is a place-name
referring to a fording point of the Liffey in the vicinity of
Heuston
Station
. was an early Christian monastery which
is believed to have been situated in the area of Aungier Street
currently occupied by Whitefriar Street Carmelite
Church
.
The
subsequent Viking settlement was on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey, to the
East of Christchurch
, in the area known as Wood Quay. The Dubh
Linn was a lake used by the Vikings to moor their ships and was
connected to the Liffey by the Poddle. The Dubh Linn and Poddle
were covered during the early 1700s, and as the city expanded they
were largely forgotten about.
The Dubh Linn was situated where the Castle
Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty
Library
in Dublin
Castle
.
History

Dublin by night
The writings of the Greek astronomer and cartographer
Ptolemy provide perhaps the earliest reference to
human habitation in the area now known as Dublin. In around A.D.
140 he referred to a settlement he called . The settlement 'Dubh
Linn' dates perhaps as far back as the first century BC and later a
monastery was built there, though the town was established in about
841 by the
Norse. The modern city retains
the
Anglicised Irish name of the former
and the original Irish name of the latter.
Dublin was
ruled by the Norse for most of the time between 841 and 999, when
it was sacked by Brian Boru, the King of
Cashel
. Although Dublin still had a Norse king
after the
Battle of Clontarf in
1014, Norse influence waned under a growing
Celtic supremacy until the
conquest of Ireland which was
launched from Britain in 1169-1172.
The last high king (Ard Rí) of Ireland was
crowned in Dublin's Christ Church Cathedral
in 1166.
In
Ireland under Anglo-Norman rule,
Dublin became the key centre of military and judicial power, with
much of the power centering on Dublin Castle
until independence. From the 14th to late
16th centuries, English crown control over Ireland was limited to a
section of territory, known as the Pale,
which included Dublin at its southern end, and Dundalk
at its northern extremity. The Parliament was
located in Drogheda
for several centuries, but was switched permanently
to Dublin after Henry VII
conquered the County Kildare in
1504. The
sacking of
Drogheda, and massacre of her citizens, by
Oliver Cromwell in 1649, resulted in Dublin
becoming the dominant port city in Ireland.
Dublin also had local city administration via its
Corporation from
the Middle Ages. This represented the city's
guild-based
oligarchy until it was
reformed in the 1840s on increasingly democratic lines.
From the 17th century the city expanded rapidly, helped by the
Wide Streets Commission.
Georgian Dublin was, for a short
time, the second city of
the British
Empire after London and the fifth largest European city. Much
of Dublin's most notable architecture dates from this time and is
considered a golden era for the city. In 1759, the founding of the
Guinness brewery at St. James's Gate
resulted in a considerable economic impact for the city. For much
of the time since its foundation, the Guinness brewery was the
largest employer in the city but Catholics were confined to the
lower echelons of employment at Guinness and only entered
management level in the 1960s. After Irish independence the
Guinness Corporate headquarters were moved to London in the 1930s
to avoid Irish taxation and a rival brewery to Dublin was opened in
London at Park Royal to supply the UK.
In 1742 Handel's "Messiah"
was performed for the first time in New Musick Hall in Fishamble
Street with 26 boys and five men from the combined choirs of
St.Patrick's
and Christ Church cathedrals
participating.
After
1800, with the seat of government
moving to Westminster
, Dublin entered a period of decline. Dublin
was still the centre of administration and a transport hub for much
of Ireland. Dublin played no major role in the
Industrial Revolution of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: Ireland had no native source
of coal, the fuel of the time, and Dublin was not a centre of ship
manufacture, the other main driver of industrial development in
Britain and Ireland.
Belfast
developed much faster than Dublin during this
period on a mixture of international
trade, factory-based linen cloth
production and shipbuilding.
The
Easter Rising of 1916 took place
in several parts of the city, bringing much physical destruction to
the city centre. The
Anglo-Irish War
and
Irish Civil War contributed even
more destruction, leaving some of its finest buildings in ruins.
The
Irish Free State government rebuilt
the city centre and located the Dáil (parliament) in Leinster
House
.
The formation of the new state resulted in changed fortunes for
Dublin. It benefitted more from independence than any Irish city,
though it took a long time to become obvious. Through
The Emergency (World War II), until
the 1960s, Dublin remained a capital out of time: the city centre
in particular remained at an architectural standstill, even
nicknamed the last 19th Century City of Europe. This made the city
ideal for
historical film
production, with many productions including
The Blue Max and
My Left Foot capturing the
cityscape in this period. This became the foundation of later
successes in cinematography and
film-making. With increasing prosperity,
modern architecture was introduced to
the city, though a vigorous campaign started in parallel to restore
the
Georgian greatness of Dublin's
streets, rather than lose the grandeur forever. Since 1997, the
landscape of Dublin has changed immensely, with enormous private
sector and state development of housing, transport, and business.
(See also
Development and
Preservation in Dublin). Some well-known
Dublin street corners are still named
for the pub or business which used to occupy the site before
closure or redevelopment.
Since the beginning of
Anglo-Norman
rule in the 12th century, the city has functioned as the capital of
the island of Ireland in the varying
geopolitical entities:
From
1922, following the partition of
Ireland, it became the capital of the Irish Free State (1922–1949) and now is the
capital of the Republic of Ireland
. One of the memorials to commemorate that
time is the Garden of Remembrance
.
In a 2003 European-wide survey by the
BBC,
questioning 11,200 residents of 112 urban and rural areas, Dublin
was the best capital city in
Europe to live
in.
A person from either the city or county of Dublin is often referred
to as a "
Dub".
Culture
Literature, theatre and the arts
The city has a world-famous literary history, having produced many
prominent literary figures, including
Nobel laureates William Butler Yeats,
George Bernard Shaw and
Samuel Beckett. Other influential writers and
playwrights from Dublin include
Oscar
Wilde,
Jonathan Swift and the
creator of
Dracula,
Bram Stoker. It is arguably most famous,
however, as the location of the greatest works of
James Joyce. His most celebrated work,
Ulysses, is set in Dublin
and full of topical detail.
Dubliners is a collection of short stories by
Joyce about incidents and characters typical of residents of the
city in the early part of the 20th century. Additional widely
celebrated writers from the city include
J.M. Synge,
Seán O'Casey,
Brendan Behan,
Maeve
Binchy, and
Roddy Doyle.
Ireland's
biggest libraries and literary museums are found in Dublin,
including the National
Print Museum of Ireland and National
Library of Ireland
.
There are several theatres within the city centre, and various
world famous actors have emerged from the Dublin theatrical scene,
including
Noel Purcell,
Brendan Gleeson,
Stephen Rea,
Colin
Farrell,
Colm Meaney and
Gabriel Byrne.
The best known theatres include the
Gaiety
, the Abbey
, the
Olympia
and the Gate
.
The
Gaiety
specialises in musical and operatic productions,
and is popular for opening its doors after the evening theatre
production to host a variety of live music, dancing, and
films. The Abbey
was founded
in 1904 by a group that included Yeats with the aim of promoting
indigenous literary talent. It went on to provide a
breakthrough for some of the city's most famous writers, such as
Synge, Yeats himself and
George Bernard Shaw.
The Gate
was founded in 1928 to promote European and
American Avant Garde works. The largest theatre is the Mahony Hall in
The
Helix
at Dublin City University
in Glasnevin
.
Dublin is also the focal point for much of
Irish Art and the Irish artistic scene. The
Book of Kells, a world-famous
manuscript produced by Celtic Monks in A.D.
800 and an example of
Insular art, is on display in Trinity
College
. The Chester Beatty Library
houses the famous collection of manuscripts,
miniature paintings, prints, drawings, rare books and decorative arts assembled by American mining
millionaire (and honorary Irish citizen) Sir Alfred Chester Beatty
(1875-1968). The collections date from 2700 B.C. onwards and
are drawn from Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.
Work by
local artists is often put on public display around St.
Stephen's Green
, the main public park in the city centre.
In
addition large art galleries are found
across the city, including the Irish Museum
of Modern Art
, the National Gallery, the Hugh Lane
Municipal Gallery
, The City Arts
Centre, The Douglas Hyde
Gallery, The Project Arts
Centre and The Royal
Hibernian Academy.
Three
branches of the National Museum of Ireland
are located in Dublin: Archaeology in Kildare
Street
, Decorative Arts and History in Collins Barracks
and Natural History in Merrion Street
.
Musical societies
The acclaimed Rathmines & Rathgar Musical Society has been in
existence since 1913, in Dublin. Its productions spawn the works of
Gilbert & Sullivan,
Rodgers & Hammerstein,
Cole Porter,
Lerner & Loewe,
Irving Berlin and
Mel
Brooks amongst others. Recent hits for the company include
The Gondoliers,
Anything Goes,
The Merry Widow,
The Producers and
HMS Pinafore.
Other
musical societies include Glasnevin Musical Society, Lyric Opera
Productions, Festival Productions (whose home is the National
Concert Hall
) and The Pioneers Musical & Dramatic
Society.
Nightlife and entertainment
There is a vibrant nightlife in Dublin and it is reputedly one of
the most youthful cities in Europe - with estimates of 50% of
inhabitants being younger than 25. Furthermore in 2007, and again
in 2009, Dublin was voted the friendliest city in
Europe. Like the rest of Ireland, there are pubs
right across the city centre.
The area around St.
Stephen's Green
- especially Harcourt Street, Camden Street,
Wexford Street and Leeson Street - is a centre for some of the most
popular nightclubs and pubs in Dublin.
The
internationally best-known area for nightlife is the Temple
Bar
area just south of the River Liffey
. To some extent, the area has become a hot
spot for tourists, including stag and
hen parties from Britain
. It was developed as Dublin's cultural
quarter (an idea proposed by local politician
Charlie Haughey), and does retain this
spirit as a centre for small arts productions, photographic and
artists' studios, and in the form of
street
performers and intimate small music venues.
Live music is popularly played on streets and at venues throughout
Dublin in general and the city has produced several musicians and
groups of international success, including
U2,
The Dubliners,
Horslips,
The Boomtown
Rats,
Thin Lizzy,
Paddy Casey,
Sinéad O'Connor,
The Script and
My Bloody Valentine.
The two best known
cinemas in the city centre are the Savoy Cinema
and the Cineworld Cinema,
both north of the Liffey. Alternative and special-interest cinema
can be found in the Irish Film Institute
in Temple Bar, in the Screen Cinema on d'Olier
Street and in the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield. Across
suburban Dublin are located large modern multiscreen cinemas.
Situated
on the Liffey at the Eastlink tollbridge, The O2, Dublin
(originally called, and still often known as, the
Point
Theatre
) has housed world renowned performers in all fields
of music.
Sports
The headquarters of almost all of Ireland's sporting organisations
are in Dublin, and the most popular sports in Dublin are those that
are most popular throughout Ireland:
Gaelic football,
soccer,
rugby union and
hurling. It is also the headquarters of the
world governing body for
Rugby Union the
International Rugby Board
(IRB). Dublin has been selected as the
European Capital of Sport in
2010.
The city
is host to the 4th largest stadium in Europe, Croke Park
, the 82,500 capacity headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic
Association. It traditionally hosts
Gaelic football and
hurling games during the summer months, as well as
international rules
football in alternating years. It also hosts concerts, with
acts such as
U2 and
Robbie Williams having played there in
recent years.
The Dublin board
of the Gaelic Athletic Association play their league games at
Parnell
Park
. The nickname for the Dublin
Gaelic football team is "
The Dubs".
Lansdowne Road
stadium (owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union) was
the venue for home games of both the Irish Rugby Union Team and
the Republic's national
soccer team. Until recently, it had a mixed standing and
seating capacity of 49,000. As part of a joint venture between the
IRFU, the
FAI and the Government, it
is being redeveloped and is expected to be replaced with a 50,000
all-seater stadium by 2009.
On 29
January 2009, Uefa confirmed Lansdowne
Road
will host the 2011 Europa
League Final (UEFA Cup). During the redevelopment, rugby union and soccer
home internationals are played at Croke Park
.
Donnybrook
Rugby Ground
is the traditional home of the Leinster Rugby team though due to its
inferior capacity they now play all Magners League and Heineken Cup games across Dublin 4 in the R.D.S.
Dublin is home to six
FAI League
of Ireland clubs,
Bohemians,
Shamrock Rovers,
Shelbourne,
St Patrick's Athletic, and
Sporting Fingal.
Dalymount
Park
in Phibsboro
, the traditional Home of Irish Soccer, is now used
only for home games of local club Bohemians. Shamrock Rovers play in the Tallaght
Stadium
, while play at Richmond
Park
in Inchicore
on the south west edge of the city.
The other
senior clubs, who play in the First Division, are who play at
Tolka
Park
in Drumcondra
, , based at the UCD Bowl
, Belfield
, and newly-formed , who play at Morton
Stadium
, Santry
.
The National Aquatic
Centre in Blanchardstown is the first building to open in the
Sports Campus Ireland. There are several race courses in the Dublin
area including
Shelbourne Park
(
Greyhound racing) and Leopardstown
(
Horse racing).
The world famous
Dublin Horse Show takes place at the RDS
, Ballsbridge
, which hosted the Show Jumping World
Championships in 1982. The national boxing arena is located in
The National
Stadium
on the South Circular Road
, though larger fights take place in the Point Depot
in the docklands area. There are also
Basketball, Handball, Hockey
and Athletics stadia —
most notably Morton
Stadium
in Santry
, which
held the athletics events of the 2003 Special Olympics.
Rugby League as a sport in
Dublin has attained popularity in recent years. The North Dublin
Eagles play in Ireland's Carnegie League. Recent popularity has
been increased with the Irish Wolfhound's success in the
Rugby League World Cup which was held
in Australia in 2008.
The
Dublin Marathon has been run
since 1980, and the
Women's
Mini Marathon has been run since 1983 and is said to be the
largest all female event of its kind in the world.
Shopping
Dublin is a popular shopping spot for both
Irish people and tourists.
Dublin city centre
has several shopping districts, including Grafton
Street
, Henry
Street, Stephen's Green Shopping
Centre
, Jervis Shopping Centre
, and the newly refurbished Ilac
Shopping Centre
. On Grafton Street, the most famous shops
include
Brown Thomas and its sister
shop
BT2.
Brown Thomas also contains "mini-stores"
such as Hermès
, Chanel and Louis Vuitton
on its Wicklow Street frontage.
Dublin city is the location of large
department stores, such as
Clerys on O'Connell Street,
Arnotts on Henry Street,
Brown Thomas on Grafton Street and Debenhams
(formerly
Roches Stores) on Henry
Street. Grafton Street is nearly as renowned for its buskers and
street-performers as for its fine shopping.
A major €750m development for Dublin city centre has been given the
green light. The development of the so-called Northern Quarter will
see the construction of 47 new shops, 175 apartments and a
four-star hotel.
Dublin City
Council gave Arnotts planning permission for the plans to
change the area bounded by Henry Street, O'Connell
Street
, Abbey
Street
and Liffey
Street. Following appeals to
An Bord Pleanála, the scale of the
development, which was to have included a sixteen-storey tower, was
reduced. The redevelopment will also include 14 new cafes along
with a 149-bed hotel.
Prince's Street, which runs off O'Connell
Street
, will become a full urban street and pedestrian
thoroughfare. Construction, which began in November 2008,
led to the loss of 580 retail jobs. It is hoped that the Northern
Quarter will open for business in 2013.
Since the mid 1990s, suburban Dublin has seen the completion of
several modern retail centres.
These include Dundrum Town Centre
, the largest commercial centre in Europe (on the
Luas Green Line), Blanchardstown Centre
, The Square
, which has recently undergone a major
refurbishment, in Tallaght
(on the Luas Red Line),
Liffey
Valley Shopping Centre
in Clondalkin
, Northside Shopping Centre in Coolock
, and Pavilions Shopping Centre in Swords
.
Northside and Southside
A
north-south division has traditionally existed in Dublin for some
time, with the dividing line being the River Liffey
. The
Northside is traditionally seen
by some as
working-class (with the
exception of a few suburbs) while the
Southside is seen as middle and
upper middle class (again, with
the exception of a few suburbs). One theory explaining this is that
since much trade came in by ship on the river Liffey and docked on
the North bank, this resulted in dockers and associated labourers
making their homes on the Northside while the wealthier merchants
and other professionals tended to make their offices and homes on
the Southside.
A noted theory on the division dates back some centuries, certainly
to the point when the
Earl of
Kildare built his residence on the then less-regarded
Southside. When asked why he was building on the Southside, he
replied "Where I go, fashion follows me, and he was promptly
followed by most other
Irish
peers.
Dublin postal districts have odd
numbers for districts on the Northside - for example, Phibsboro
is in Dublin 7 - and even numbers for the Southside
- for example, Sandymount
and Ringsend both have postal code D4 (Dublin
4). An exception to the rule is Dublin 8, which straddles
the river.
Education and research
Dublin is the primary centre of education in Ireland, with three
universities and many other higher education institutions. There
are 20 third-level institutes in the city. Dublin will be
European Capital of Science in
2012.
The
University
of Dublin
is the oldest university in Ireland dating from the
16th century. Its sole constituent college, Trinity
College
, was established by Royal Charter in 1592 under Elizabeth I and was closed to Roman
Catholics until Catholic
Emancipation; the Catholic
hierarchy then banned Roman Catholics from attending it until
1970. It is situated in the city centre, on
College
Green
, and has 15,000 students.
The
National University of
Ireland (NUI) has its seat in Dublin, which is also the
location of the associated constituent university of
University
College Dublin
(UCD), the largest university in Ireland with over
22,000 students.
Dublin City
University
(DCU) is the most recent university and specialises
in business, engineering, and science courses, particularly with
relevance to industry. It has around 10,000 students.
The
Royal College of
Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) is a medical school which is a recognised college
of the NUI, it is situated at St. Stephen's Green
in the city centre.
The
National University of Ireland,
Maynooth
, another constituent university of the NUI, is in
neighbouring Co.
Kildare
, about from the city centre.
The Irish public administration and management training centre has
its base in Dublin, the Institute of Public Administration provides
a range of undergraduate and post graduate awards via the National
University of Ireland and in some instances, Queen's University
Belfast.
Dublin Institute of
Technology (DIT) is a modern technical college and is the
country's largest non-university third-level institution; it
specialises in technical subjects but also offers many arts and
humanities courses.
It is soon to be relocated to a new campus
at Grangegorman
. Two suburbs of Dublin, Tallaght
and Blanchardstown
have Institutes of Technology: Institute of Technology,
Tallaght, and Institute of Technology,
Blanchardstown. Portobello College has its degrees
conferred through the
University of
Wales.
The
National College of Art and
Design
(NCAD) and Dun
Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (DLIADT)
support training and research in art, design and media
technology.
Dublin Business School (DBS)
is Ireland's largest private third level institution with over
9,000 students. The college is located on Aungier Street.
The
National College of
Ireland (NCI) is also based in Dublin.
There are
also various other smaller specialised colleges, including private
ones, such as Griffith College Dublin
, The
Gaiety School of Acting and the New Media Technology
College
The
Economic and
Social Research Institute, a social science research institute,
is based on Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin 2. The
Institute of European Affairs
is also in Dublin.
Population
The City of Dublin is the area administered by
Dublin City Council, but the term
normally refers to the contiguous urban area which includes the
adjacent local authority areas of
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown,
Fingal and
South Dublin.
Together
the four areas form the traditional County Dublin
. This area is sometimes known as 'Urban
Dublin' or the '
Dublin
Metropolitan Area'.
The population of the administrative area controlled by the
City Council was 505,739 at the census
of 2006.
At the same census, the County Dublin
population was 1,186,159, and that of the Greater Dublin Area 1,661,185.
The city's population is expanding rapidly, and it is estimated by
the
CSO that it
will reach 2.1 million by 2021. Today, approximately 40% of the
population of the Republic of Ireland live within a radius of the
city centre.
Demographics
Dublin has a long history of emigration that continued into the
early 1990s. Since then there has been net immigration and Dublin
now has a significant population of immigrants.
Foreign nationals in
the city are primarily young and single and the greatest numbers
come from the European Union,
especially the United
Kingdom
, Poland
and
Lithuania
. There is also a considerable number from
outside Europe, particularly China
, Nigeria
, Brazil
, Australia, and New Zealand
. 10% of the Republic of Ireland
's population is now made up of foreign nationals,
and Dublin is home to a greater proportion of new arrivals than
other parts of the country - for example, 60% of Ireland's Asian
population lives in Dublin even though less than 40% of the overall
population live in the Greater
Dublin Area.
According to the
Central
Statistics Office, the ethnic breakdown of Dublin City and
County at the 2006 census was:
Ethnic group |
Percent |
White (Irish) |
83.1% |
White (Other) |
8.06% |
Asian |
2.63% (0.9% Chinese) |
Black |
1.81% |
Mixed Race and Other |
1.46% |
Irish Traveller |
0.4% |
Economy and infrastructure
Industry, employment and standard of living
Dublin has been at the centre of Ireland's phenomenal
economic growth and subsequent current
economic contraction over the
last 10–15 years, a period (often of double-digit growth) referred
to as the
Celtic Tiger years.
Living standards in the city have risen
dramatically, although the cost of living has also soared. In 2009,
Dublin was listed as the fourth-richest city in the world.
According to one source, Dublin is now the world's 25th most
expensive city. It is also listed as the tenth most expensive city
in the world in which to live.
However, it had the second highest wages for
a city in the world, ahead of both New York City
and London
, though
behind Zürich
but as of
2009 has dropped to tenth highest.
Historically, brewing
has probably been the industry most often associated with the city
: Guinness has been brewed at the St. James's
Gate Brewery
since 1759. Since the advent of the Celtic
Tiger years, however, a large number of global pharmaceutical,
information and communications
technology companies have located in Dublin and the
Greater Dublin Area. For example,
Microsoft,
Google,
Amazon,
eBay,
PayPal,
Yahoo!,
Facebook and
Pfizer
(among others) now have European headquarters and/or operational
bases in the city and its suburbs .
Intel
and
Hewlett-Packard have large manufacturing plants in Leixlip
, County
Kildare
, to the west.
Banking, finance and commerce are also important in the city - the
IFSC alone
handles over €1 trillion a year . Many international firms have
established major headquarters in the city (eg.
Citibank,
Commerzbank).
Also located in Dublin is the
Irish
Stock Exchange (ISEQ),
Internet Neutral Exchange (INEX)
and
Irish Enterprise
Exchange (IEX).
The
economic boom years have led to a
sharp increase in construction, which is now also a major employer,
though, as of 2007, unemployment is on the rise as the
housing market has begun to see supply
outstrip demand. Redevelopment is taking place in large projects
such as
Dublin
Docklands,
Spencer Dock and others, transforming once run-down
industrial areas in the city centre. Dublin City Council seems to
now have loosened the former restrictions on "high-rise"
structures.
The tallest building, Liberty Hall
, is only tall; already under construction in the
city is Heuston Gate, a building (134 m including
spire). The
Britain Quay Tower and the
Point Village Watchtower have been approved.
Construction has started on the latter.
Also the U2 Tower
will be the tallest building on the Island of
Ireland
when it is
finished.
In 2005, around 800,000 people were employed in the Greater Dublin
Area, of whom around 600,000 were employed in the services sector
and 200,000 in the
industrial
sector. Dublin is one of the constituent cities in the
Dublin-Belfast corridor region which
has a population of just under 3 million.
Economic
growth is expected to slow in the coming years, while the Irish central bank
predicted medium-term growth rates of around
3–5% last year.
Transport
Dublin is also the main hub of the country's road network. The
M50 motorway (the busiest
road in Ireland), a semi-
ring road runs
around the south, west and north of the city, connecting the most
important national primary routes in the state that fan out from
the capital to the regions.
As of 2008, a toll of €2 applies on what is
called the West-Link
, two adjacent concrete bridges that tower high
above the River Liffey near the village of Lucan
. The West-Link
Toll Bridge was replaced by the eFlow barrier-free tolling system in August 2008, with
a three-tiered charge system based on electronic tags and car
pre-registration.
To complete the ring road, an eastern bypass is also proposed for
the city of Dublin.
The first half of this project is the
Dublin
Port Tunnel
which opened in late 2006 and mainly caters to
heavy vehicles. The plan to build the eastern bypass around
Dublin has been effectively shelved by the Department of Transport
as there are no funds available for the expected €1 billion
project.The capital is also surrounded by an inner and outer
orbital route.
The inner orbital route runs roughly around
the heart of the Georgian city and the outer orbital route runs
largely along the natural circle formed by Dublin's two canals, the
Grand Canal and the Royal
Canal
, as well as the North and South Circular
Roads.
Dublin is served by an extensive network of nearly 200 bus routes
which serve all areas of the city and suburbs. The majority of
these are controlled by
Dublin Bus (Bus
Átha Cliath) which was established in 1987, but a number of smaller
companies have begun operating in recent years. Dublin Bus had 3408
staff and 1067 buses providing over half a million journeys per
weekday in 2004. Fares are generally calculated on a stage system
based on distance travelled. There are several different levels of
fares, which apply on most services. Certain routes (particularly
Xpresso) use a different fare system.
The
Dublin Suburban Rail network is
a system of five rail lines serving mainly commuters in the
Greater Dublin Area, though some
trains go even further to commuter towns such as Drogheda
and Dundalk
. One of these is an electrified line that
runs along Dublin
Bay
and is known as the Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART)
line.A two-line
light
rail/
tram network called the
Luas opened in 2004 and has proved popular in the
(limited) areas it serves, although the lack of a link between the
two lines is widely criticised. Five new luas lines are planned,
the last of which will be opened in 2014, with the two existing
lines set to be joined up by 2012.
There are plans to begin building work on the
Dublin Metro (subway / underground) system set
out in the Irish government's 2005
Transport 21 plan within the next few years.
Although not confirmed, it is believed that the metro will be fully
segregated from all traffic which will mean it will not disrupt
traffic when in operation, unlike an on-street
Luas Tram or the
DART.
The Metro
North will bring rail access to areas and institutions
currently lacking it, such as the Mater
Hospital, Drumcondra
(Croke
Park
, inter-city and suburban rail stop), Dublin City
University
, Ballymun
, Swords
and
Dublin
Airport
. The Metro West will serve the large
suburbs of Tallaght
, Clondalkin
and Blanchardstown
.
Dublin is at the centre of
Ireland's transport system.
Dublin Port
is the country's busiest sea
port and Dublin
Airport
is the busiest airport on the island.
Communications and media
Dublin is the centre of both media and
communications in
Ireland, with many newspapers,
radio
stations,
television stations
and
telephone companies having
their headquarters there.
Raidió
Teilifís Éireann
(RTÉ) is Ireland's national state broadcaster, and
has its main offices and studios in Donnybrook, Dublin
. Fair City is the
broadcaster's capital-based soap, located in the fictional Dublin
suburb of
Carraigstown.
TV3,
City Channel and
Setanta Sports are also based in Dublin.
Dublin is home to national commercial radio networks
Today FM and
Newstalk, as
well as numerous local stations. The main infrastructure and
offices of
An Post and telecommunications
companies, such as the former state telephone company
Eircom, as well as mobile/cellular operators
Meteor,
Vodafone and
O2 are all located in the capital.
Dublin is also the headquarters of important national newspapers
such as
The Irish Times and
Irish Independent, as
well as local newspapers such as
The
Evening Herald.
The most popular radio stations in Dublin, by adult (15+)
listenership share, are
RTÉ Radio 1
(30.3%),
FM104 (13.3%),
Dublin's 98 (11.9%),
RTÉ
2fm (10.4%),
Q102 (7%),
Spin 1038 (7%),
Newstalk
(6.8%),
Today FM (5.7%),
RTÉ lyric fm (2.7%),
Dublin's Country Mix 106.8 (2.6%)
and
Phantom FM (1.8%). Among the under
35s, this figures are very different with FM104 (24.9%), Spin 1038
(17.3%) and Dublin's 98 (15.6%) being by far the most popular
stations in this age group.There are two Irish language radio
stations which can be picked up in the Dublin area:
RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta,
and
Raidió na Life 106.4fm, both
of which have studios in Dublin.
Government
City
The City
is governed by Dublin City
Council (formerly called Dublin Corporation), which is
presided over by the Lord Mayor of
Dublin, who is elected for a yearly term and resides in the
Mansion
House
. Dublin City Council is based in two major
buildings.
Council meetings take place in the
headquarters at Dublin
City Hall
, the former Royal Exchange taken over for
city government use in the 1850s. Many of its
administrative staff are based in the Civic Offices on
Wood
Quay
.
The City Council is a unicameral assembly of 52 members, elected
every five years from Local Election Areas. The party with the
majority of seats (or a coalition of parties who form a majority)
decides who sits on what committee, what policies are followed, and
who becomes Lord Mayor. Chaired by the Lord Mayor, the Council
passes an annual budget for spending on housing, traffic
management, refuse, drainage, planning, etc. The Dublin City
Manager is responsible for the implementation of decisions of the
City Council.
The current ruling coalition, after the 2009 local elections, is
the
Democratic Alliance, made up of
Labour and
Fine
Gael.
Fianna Fáil,
Sinn Féin,
Greens and non-party councillors act
as opposition. The current Lord Mayor is
Emer Costello, who was elected in June
2009.
In 2008, the national government announced plans for local
government reform, with the biggest change being plans for an
elected Mayor of Dublin with executive powers. The plan also
includes local plebiscites, petition rights,
participatory budgeting and city
meetings.
National
The national parliament of Ireland, the
Oireachtas, consists of the President of
Ireland and two houses,
Dáil
Éireann (Chamber of Deputies) and
Seanad Éireann (Senate). All three are
based in Dublin.
The President of Ireland lives in Áras an
Uachtaráin
, the former residence of the Governor-General of the
Irish Free State in the city's largest park, Phoenix Park
. Both houses of the Oireachtas meet in
Leinster
House
, a former ducal palace on the south side.
The building has been the home of Irish parliaments since the
creation of the
Irish Free State on
6 December 1922.
Government Buildings
house the Department of the Taoiseach, the
Council Chamber (used for the weekly Cabinet meetings), the
Department of Finance and the Office of the Attorney
General. It consists of a main building (completed
1911) with two wings (completed 1921) and was designed by Thomas
Manley Dean and Sir Aston Webb as the
Royal College of
Science
. In 1921 the
House of Commons of
Southern Ireland met here.
Given its location next to Leinster House,
the Irish Free State government took over the two wings of the
building to serve as a temporary home for some ministries, while
the central building became the College of Technology (part of
UCD
) until 1989. Both it and Leinster House,
meant to be a temporary home of parliament, became permanent
homes.
The old
Irish
Houses of Parliament
of the Kingdom of
Ireland are in College
Green
.
Climate
Dublin enjoys a maritime
temperate climate
characterised by mild winters, cool summers, and a lack of
temperature extremes with moderate rainfall. However, contrary to
popular belief, Dublin does not experience as high rainfall as the
west of Ireland, which receives over twice that of the capital
city. Dublin has fewer rainy days, on average, than
London. Measured at Dublin Airport, the
average maximum January temperature is 7.6 °C, the average maximum
July temperature is 18.9 °C. The sunniest months, on average, are
May and June. The wettest months, on average, is December with
76 mm of rain. The driest month is February, with 50 mm.
The total
average annual rainfall (and other forms of precipitation) is
732.7 mm, lower than Sydney
, New York
City
and even Dallas
.
Due to Dublin's northerly latitude, it experiences long summer
days, around 17 hours of daylight between official sunrise and
sunset times for the longest day of the year in June and short
winter days, as short as 7 and a half hours between official
sunrise and sunset times for the shortest day of the year in
December. These are lengthened slightly when dawn and dusk are
taken into consideration. In summer, dawn can come as early as
04:00 before the official sunrise time of 04:56 on the longest day
of the year. Dusk is lengthened also, sometimes up to 23:00 after
the sun has set just before 22:00 on the longest day of the
year.
Like the rest of Ireland it is relatively safe from common
natural disasters such as tornadoes,
hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis.
Strong winds from Atlantic storm systems ("windstorms") can affect
Dublin, though usually less severe than other parts of Ireland.
Severe winds are most likely during mid-winter, but can occur
anytime, especially between October and February.
During one of the
stormiest periods of recent times, a gust of was recorded at
Casement
Aerodrome
on 24 December 1997.
The city is not noted for its temperature extremes due to its mild
climate. Typically, the coldest months are December, January and
February. Temperatures in summer in recent years have been rising
to substantially above average figures, e.g. 31 °C in July 2006,
over 12 °C higher than the average maximum. Recent heat waves
include the
European heat
wave of 2003 and
European
heat wave of 2006.
The main precipitation in winter is rain. The city can experience
some snow showers during the months from October to May, but lying
snow is uncommon (on average, only 4.5 days).
Hail occurs more often than snow (on average, around
9.5 days), and is most likely during the winter and spring months.
Another rare type of weather is
thunder and
lightning, most common in late summer -
though still only averages 4.1 days per year.
Crime
Official statistics from
An
Garda Síochána for 2004-2007 show that the overall headline
crime rate for the metropolitan area per 1,000 of population is the
highest in the country. During the 1980s and 1990s, a heroin
epidemic swept through working class areas of the inner city and
outlying suburbs. In 2008 there were 20 homicides in which 16 were
gang-related gun murders.
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Dublin has the following sister cities:
See also
References
- GFCI Index 2008
- TalkingCities
- The
Irish Experience
- A Popular History of Ireland - Thomas D'Arcy McGee
(1825-1868)
- It should be noted that this state was unilaterally declared
and was not recognised by any other country apart from
Russia. The control did
not extend to all of the island, particularly Unionist areas in the
north east.
- BBC record of Survey
- National Museum of Ireland
- BreakingNews.ie - Dublin voted friendliest
European city (13 March 2007)
- Irish Times - Dublin voted friendliest
city (4 May 2009)
- Article on stag/hen parties in Edinburgh, Scotland (which
mentions their popularity in Dublin), mentioning Dublin,
Accessed Feb 15 2009.
- Dublin City Council - 2011 UEFA Cup Final comes
to new Dublin stadium
- Croke Park Fixtures - UEFA European Championship
Listings 2006
- LRSDC.ie -
Homepage of Lansdowne Road Development Company (IRFU and FAI
JV)
- - Facts and Figures 16th February 2009
- History of Dublin Neighbourhoods
- Call for improved infrastructure for Dublin 2 April
2007
- Most new immigrants young and single 15
February 2009
- Foreign nationals now 10% of Irish population 26 July
2007
- Central Statistics Office Ireland data from 2006
census for Ireland
- City Mayors - The world's richest cities by
purchasing power in 2008
- Global/Worldwide Cost of Living Survey Rankings 2007/2008,
Cities, International, Europe 2007
- City Mayors - The world's most expensive cities
in 2008
- London is the most expensive city in the world, while
Swiss cities are home to highest earners
- Central Bank predicts less growth
- Mediaworks - Radio Listenership Up-Date
Republic of Ireland
- RTÉ News - Elected mayors in plans for local
govt
- Department of the Taoiseach: Guide to Government Buildings
(2005)
- Garda Annual Reports 2004-2007 Accessed 15 February
2009
Further reading
- John Flynn and Jerry Kelleher, Dublin Journeys in
America (High Table Publishing, 2003) ISBN 0-9544694-1-0
- Hanne Hem, Dubliners, An Anthropologist's Account,
Oslo, 1994
- Pat Liddy, Dublin A Celebration - From the 1st to the 21st
century (Dublin City Council, 2000) ISBN 0-946841-50-0
- Maurice Craig, The Architecture of Ireland from the
Earliest Times to 1880 (Batsford, Paperback edition 1989) ISBN
0-7134-2587-3
- Frank McDonald, Saving the
City: How to Halt the Destruction of Dublin (Tomar Publishing,
1989) ISBN 1-871793-03-3
- Edward McParland, Public Architecture in Ireland
1680–1760 (Yale University
Press, 2001) ISBN 0-300-09064-1
External links