Encyclopedia
Dublin is the
capital and the largest city of the
Republic of Ireland , 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 centre for the
Viking slave trade, the city has been Ireland's capital city since
mediæval times.
Dublin City is the entire area administered by
Dublin City Council. However, when most people talk about
Dublin, they also refer to the contiguous suburban areas that run into the adjacent counties of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. This area is sometimes known as "Urban Dublin" or the "Dublin Metropolitan Area".
The population within the City was 505,739 at the census of 2006. Beyond this, at the same census the
Dublin Region population was 1,186,159 whilst the
Greater Dublin Area had a figure of 1,661,185.
A person from Dublin is known as a Dubliner or a Dub. Dublin, in a 2003 survey, was found to be the best capital city in
Europe to live in, and the
Republic of Ireland was also the best country to live in.
Name
The name Dublin is an Anglicism of
Dubh Linn , though some doubt this derivation. Historically, in the old script used for the Irish language, 'bh' was written with a dot placed over the 'b' — thus appearing to be Dub Linn or Dublinn. The Norman-speaking English who arrived in Old Irish-speaking Ireland starting in 1169 omitted the "dot" , and spelled the town's name variously as 'Develyn' or 'Dublin'.
Meanwhile, the city's name in Modern Irish —
Baile Átha Cliath — actually refers to the settlement, founded in 988 by High King Mael Sechnaill II, which adjoined the town of Dubh Linn proper, at the Black Pool.
Some sources have suggested that "Dublin" is of
Scandinavian origin, cf. Icelandic: "djúp lind" . However, the name "Dubh Linn" pre-dates the arrival of the Vikings in Ireland, and the Old Norse name for Dublin is simply the words "Dubh Linn" re-spelled as if they were Old Norse:
Dyflinn .
History
The earliest reference to Dublin is in the writings of
Claudius Ptolemaeus , the Greek astronomer and cartographer, around the year A.D. 140, who calls it
Eblana Civitas. The settlement
Dubh Linn dates perhaps as far back as the first century BC;
Baile Átha Cliath or simply
Áth Cliath was founded in 988 nearby: the two towns eventually became one. The modern city retains the Anglicised Irish name of the former and the original Irish name of the latter. After the
Norman invasion of Ireland, Dublin replaced the
Hill of Tara as Ireland's capital, with much of the power centring on
Dublin Castle until independence. From the 14th century until the late 16th century, Dublin and the surrounding area—known as the Pale—was the only area of Ireland under English government control.
From the
17th century the city expanded rapidly, helped by the Wide Streets Commission.
Georgian Dublin was, for a time, the second city of the British Empire after London. Much of Dublin's best architecture dates from this time. The
Easter Rising of 1916 left the capital in an unstable situation and the
Anglo-Irish War and
Irish Civil War left the capital in ruins, with many of its finest buildings destroyed. The
Irish Free State rebuilt much of the city's buildings and moved parliament to
Leinster House, but took no bold tasks such as remodelling. After
The Emergency Dublin remained a capital out of time, modernisation was slow and finally the
1960s saw change begin. In recent years the infrastructure of Dublin has changed immensely, with enormous private and state development of housing, transport, and business. . 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
English rule in the
twelfth century, the city has served as the capital of the island of Ireland in the varying geopolitical entities:
The
Kingdom of Ireland was the name given to the English-ruled Irish state i...
...
From 1922, following the partition of Ireland, it served as the capital of the
Irish Free State and now as the capital of the
Republic of Ireland.
Climate
Dublin enjoys a maritime temperate climate characterized by mild winters, cool summers, and a lack of temperature extremes. Contrary to popular belief, Dublin does not experience high rainfall with the west of Ireland receiving twice that of the capital city. Dublin has the less rain days, on average, than
London. 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, with 6 hours of sunlight daily . The wettest month, on average, is December, with 76 mm of rain. The driest months are February and July, with 50 mm of rain. The total average annual rainfall is 733 mm , to the surprise of many this is lower than in
Sydney,
New York City and even
Dallas. Due to Dublin's high latitude it experiences long summer days and short winter days . Dublin, like the rest of Ireland, is safe from nearly all common natural disasters .
Strong winds from Atlantic storm systems 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 inclusive. During one of the stormiest periods of recent times, a gust of 151km/hr was recorded at Casement Aerodrome on 24 December 1997.
Dublin has a microclimate, which makes the city a few degrees warmer than surrounding areas. There is also a slight temperature difference between the city centre and the city's suburbs, with the city centre slightly warmer, as it is more built up. There are even slight differences between the and , just 12 kilometres north.
The city is not noted for its temperature extremes due to its mild climate. The lowest recorded temperature was -12°C . The other extreme was 31°C , being the highest recorded. The main precipitation in winter is rain. The city can experience some snow showers during the months of November-April inclusive, but lying snow is rare .
Hail occurs more often than snow, and is most likely during the winter/spring months. Another rare type of weather is
thunder and
lightning, which is most common around the summer months. Typically, the coldest months in Dublin are December, January and February. However, temperatures in Summer in recent years have been rising to substantially above average figures , especially during heat waves in
2003 and
2006.
Climate Table
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|
| Mean daily maximum temperature | 7.6 | 7.5 | 9.5 | 11.4 | 14.2 | 17.2 | 18.9 | 18.6 | 16.6 | 13.7 | 9.8 | 8.4 | 12.78 |
|---|
| Mean daily minimum temperature | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3.1 | 4.4 | 6.8 | 9.6 | 11.4 | 11.1 | 9.6 | 7.6 | 4.2 | 3.2 | 6.33 |
|---|
| Mean total rainfall | 69 | 50 | 54 | 51 | 55 | 56 | 50 | 70 | 67 | 70 | 65 | 76 | 733 |
|---|
| Mean number of rain days | 13 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 129 |
|---|
| Source: |
Culture
Dublin is a major European cultural centre and the origin of many prominent literary figures including
Jonathan Swift,
Bram Stoker,
Oscar Wilde,
William Butler Yeats,
James Joyce,
J.M. Synge,
George Bernard Shaw, Seán O'Casey,
Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan, and
Roddy Doyle.
Dubliners is a collection of short stories by James Joyce [i], published in 1914 [i]. ...
is a collection of short stories by James Joyce about incidents and characters typical of residents of the city in the early part of the 20th century.
Ulysses, also by Joyce, is a novel set in Dublin, full of topographical detail and is both acclaimed and controversial.
The National Print Museum of Ireland, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, both the
National Gallery and the National Library of Ireland, the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, the Chester Beatty Library and three centres of the National Museum of Ireland are located in Dublin.
While there are a number of galleries and art centres located in the city centre, such as The City Arts Centre, Four, The Douglas Hyde Gallery, The Project Arts Centre and The Royal Hibernian Academy.
Temple Bar is a popular night life location and attracts many people from
Great Britain and beyond for weekend visits.
The city is one of the most youthful in the world - an estimated 50% of inhabitants are younger than 25.
Multicultural Dublin
Despite having a long tradition of emigration that continued up until the early 1990s, Dublin now has a sizeable number of immigrants especially from
Poland,
China, the
United Kingdom,
Nigeria and
Romania. There are also considerable numbers from fellow
E.U. member states, the
U.S.,
Australia,
New Zealand,
Russia,
Latvia and
Estonia, while over the last decade a large number of Irish who previously emigrated, have returned to settle in the city.
Education
Dublin is the primary centre of education in Ireland, with three universities and several other higher education institutions. 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 under
Elizabeth I and was closed to Roman Catholics until
Catholic Emancipation; the Catholic hierarchy then closed it to Roman Catholics until 1970. The
National University of Ireland has its seat in Dublin which is also the location of the associated
constituent university of
University College Dublin , the largest university in Ireland; although it is located in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, just outside the city of Dublin boundary.
Dublin City University is the most recent university created in Dublin and specialises in business, engineering, and science courses, particularly with relevance to industry. The
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland is an independent medical school located on St. Stephen's Green in the city centre. The National University of Ireland, Maynooth, another constituent university of the NUI, is located about 25 km from Dublin.
Dublin Institute of Technology 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 move to a new campus at Grangegorman. Two suburbs of Dublin, Tallaght and Blanchardstown have respective Institutes of Technology to cater for the local population .
The National College of Art and Design and
Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology support training and research in art, design and media technology.
There are also various other smaller specialised colleges, including private ones, in the city. Examples include The Gaiety School of Acting which hosts a two year intensive degree in acting, and
Griffith College Dublin, which is the largest independent institute of third level education in the country, and located in the old Griffith Barracks.
Exhibitions
- 1853 - Great Industrial Exhibition
- 1865 - International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures
- 1874 - International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures
Northside and Southside
Traditionally, a north south division has existed in Dublin with the dividing line provided by the
River Liffey. The
Northside is generally seen as working-class, while the
Southside is seen as middle and upper middle class.
Dublin postal districts reflect the North/South divide, with odd numbers being used for districts on the Northside, e.g:
Phibsboro is in Dublin 7, and even numbers for ones on the Southside, e.g: Sandymount is in Dublin 4.
This division dates back 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 South Side, he replied "Where I go, fashion follows me", and indeed he was promptly followed by most other Irish peers.
The Northside/Southside divide is punctuated by examples of Dublin "sub-culture" stereotypes, with upper-middle class constituents seen as tending towards an accent and demeanour synonymous with the D4 postcode on the Southside , and working-class Dubliners seen as tending towards accents and demeanour associated with Northside and inner-city Dublin neighbourhoods.
This simplification of economic and social communities in Dublin does not survive more than a few real-world examples however. For example, the President of Ireland's residence,
Áras an Uachtaráin, is on the Northside, although its postal district is D8, a Southside number. Similarly, some of Dublin's working-class suburbs such as Tallaght, Crumlin, and
Ballyfermot are in fact located south of the river and six wealthy suburbs, Clontarf,
Howth,
Malahide, Portmarnock, Sutton and
Castleknock are found on the Northside.
The north-south divide has mellowed considerably in the past number of years. This is primarily due to the favourable economic conditions currently in Ireland and the emergence of the
Celtic Tiger economy in Ireland. Correspondly, Dublin has progressed to become one of the wealthiest cities in Europe.
The economic divide in Dublin is east-west as well as north-south . There are significant social divisions evident between the coastal suburbs in the east of the city, including those on the northside, and the newer developments further to the west. In reality, however, colloquial usage by natives of Dublin has the River Liffey constitute the socio-economic boundary.
In 2006, the
Economist is a weekly news and international affairs publication of The Economist Newspaper Ltd ...
Intelligence Unit ranked Dublin as the 16th most expensive city in the world, and the Mercer World-wide quality of living survey rated Dublin as the city with the 24th best quality of life in the world .
Sport
The headquarters of almost all of Ireland's sporting organisations are located in Dublin.
Croke Park, an 82,500-capacity stadium near Drumcondra, is the base of the
Gaelic Athletic Association and hosts
Gaelic Football and
Hurling games during the summer months and on
St. Patrick's Day, and
International rules football in alternating years. The
Dublin branch of the Gaelic Athletic Association play their league games at Parnell Park.
Lansdowne Road is a 48,000 capacity stadium owned by the
Irish Rugby Football Union and is also the venue for home games of the
Republic's national football team. Lansdowne Road is due to be demolished at the end of 2006 and replaced with a state of the art 50,000 all-seater stadium.
Dalymount Park, in
Phibsboro and the traditional Home of Irish Soccer, is now used only for home games of local club
Bohemian FC. Rivals
Shelbourne FC play at
Tolka Park, in Drumcondra, while
St Patrick's Athletic play in
Richmond Park in Inchicore on the south west edge of the city.
Shamrock Rovers, Ireland's most successful club, are originally from Milltown but have spent the last two decades in search of a home, and hope to complete a new stadium in Tallaght sometime in 2006. The other senior soccer clubs are
University College Dublin F.C., based in Belfield, and the now defunct
Dublin City F.C. .
The National Aquatic Centre, located 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 and Leopardstown . The world famous Dublin Horse Show at the RDS, Ballsbridge, which hosted the
Show Jumping World Championships in 1982. There are also
Basketball,
Handball,
Hockey and Athletics stadia within the city - most notably Morton Stadium in Santry, which held the athletics events of the 2003
Special Olympics.
The Dublin Marathon has been run in the city since 1980.
Entertainment
There is a vibrant night life in Dublin — the most internationally notorious area for these activities is the
Temple Bar area south of the Liffey. This area has become synonymous with stag and hen parties and tourists, causing many locals to steer clear of the area. Temple Bar was, however, originally redeveloped as Dublin's cultural quarter and retains part of this spirit in the form of street performers, drummers, and many intimate small music venues.
There are several theatres within the city centre, the largest of which include the
Abbey Theatre, the Gate Theatre, the Olympia Theatre, and the Gaiety Theatre, which opens its doors after the evening theatre production to host a variety of live music, dancing, and films. The Gaiety's bars are open later than any others in the city. The largest theatre in the city is the Mahony Hall in
The Helix at
Dublin City University in Glasnevin.
There are two large cinemas in the city centre; The Savoy Cinema and the
Cineworld Cinema are located north of the Liffey. Alternative and special-interest cinema can be found in the Irish Film Institute in Temple Bar, and in the Screen Cinema on d'Olier St. Numerous larger cinemas can be found in the city's suburbs.
Government
City
The City is governed by
Dublin City Council 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 controversial
Civic Offices on
Wood Quay.
The City Council is a unicameral assembly made up of 52 members. These members are elected every five years from Local Election Areas. The party with the majority of seats 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.
National
The national parliament of the Republic of Ireland consists of the President of Ireland and two houses,
Dáil Éireann and
Seanad Éireann . 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 of the city. The building has been the home of Irish parliaments since the creation of the
Irish Free State on December 6, 1922.
The Irish Government is based in the
Government Buildings, a large building designed by Sir
Aston Webb, the architect who created the Edwardian facade to
Buckingham Palace. Initially what is now Government Buildings was designed for use as the
Royal College of Science, but in 1921 the
House of Commons of Southern Ireland met there. Given its location next to Leinster House, the Irish Free State government took over part of the building to serve as a temporary home for some ministries. However both it and Leinster House became the permanent homes of the government and parliament respectively.
The previous old
Irish Houses of Parliament of the
Kingdom of Ireland is located in
College Green.
Economy & Infrastructure
Communications & 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. Radio Teilifís Éireann 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,
Channel 6, City Channel,
Sky News Ireland and
Setanta Sports are also based in Dublin. The main infrastructure and offices of An Post and the former state telephone company
Eircom, as well as
Meteor,
Vodafone and
O2 are located in the capital. Dublin is also the headquarters of important national newspapers such as
The Irish Times and
Irish Independent.
Transport
Dublin is at the centre of Ireland's transport system. Dublin Port is the country's most important
sea port.
Dublin Airport is the busiest airport by far on the island, registering nearly 19 million passengers in 2005, making it the 14th busiest airport in Europe with the capital's airport offering onward flights to other airports in Ireland, Europe, North America and the Middle East. Heuston Station and
Connolly Station 
