County Dublin

There are four local authorities whose remit collectively encompasses the geographic area of the county and city of Dublin. These are Dublin City Council, South Dublin County Council, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council and Fingal County Council.

Dublin region: 1. Dublin City; 2. Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown; 3. Fingal; 4. South Dublin.

Prior to the enactment of the Local Government (Dublin) Act 1993, the county was a unified whole even though it was administered by two local authorities – Dublin County Council and Dublin Corporation. Since the enactment of the Local Government Act 2001 in particular, the geographic area of the county has been divided between three entities at the level of "county" and a further entity at the level of "city". They rank equally as first level local administrative units of the NUTS 3 Dublin Region for Eurostat purposes. There are 34 LAU 1 entities in the Republic of Ireland. Each local authority is responsible for certain local services such as sanitation, planning and development, libraries, the collection of motor taxation, local roads and social housing.

Dublin County Council (which did not include the county borough of Dublin) was abolished in 1994 and the area divided among the administrative counties of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin each with its county seat. To these areas may be added the area of Dublin city which collectively comprise the Dublin Region[8] (Réigiúin Átha Cliath) and come under the remit of the Dublin Regional Authority.

The area lost its administrative county status in 1994, with Section 9 Part 1(a) of the Local Government (Dublin) Act, 1993 stating that "the county shall cease to exist."[9][10] In discussing the legislation to dissolve Dublin County Council, Avril Doyle TD said, "The Bill before us today effectively abolishes County Dublin, and as one born and bred in these parts of Ireland I find it rather strange that we in this House are abolishing County Dublin. I am not sure whether Dubliners realise that that is what we are about today, but in effect that is the case."[11]

The county is part of the Dublin constituency for the purposes of European elections. For elections to Dáil Éireann, the area of the county is currently (2016) divided into eleven constituencies: Dublin Bay North, Dublin Bay South, Dublin Central, Dublin Fingal, Dublin Mid-West, Dublin North-West, Dublin Rathdown, Dublin South-Central, Dublin South-West, Dublin West, and Dún Laoghaire. Together they return 45 deputies (TDs) to the Dáil.

	Dublin City	Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown	Fingal	South Dublin
Coat of Arms
Motto	Obedientia Civium Urbis Felicitas  (Latin) "An Obedient Citizenry Produces a Happy City"	Ó Chuan go Sliabh  (Irish) "From Harbour to Mountain"	Flúirse Talaimh is Mara  (Irish) "Abundance of Land and Sea"	Ag Seo Ár gCúram  (Irish) "This We Hold in Trust"
County town	Dublin	Dún Laoghaire	Swords	Tallaght
Dáil Éireann	Dublin Central Dublin Bay North Dublin North-West Dublin South-Central Dublin Bay South	Dún Laoghaire Dublin Rathdown	Dublin Bay North Dublin Fingal Dublin North-West Dublin West	Dublin Mid-West Dublin South-Central Dublin South-West
Local Authority	Dublin City Council	Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council	Fingal County Council	South Dublin County Council
Council Seats	63	40	40	40
Chairperson	Hazel Chu (Lord Mayor)	Una Power (Cathaoirleach)	David Healy (Mayor)	Ed O'Brien (Mayor)
Population (2016)	554,554	218,018	296,020	278,767
Increase since 2011	5.5%	5.3%	8.1%	5.1%
Area	118 km2 (46 sq mi)[12]	126 km2 (49 sq mi)[13]	456 km2 (176 sq mi)[14]	223 km2 (86 sq mi)[15]
Density	4,811/km2	1,707/km2	652/km2	1,252/km2
Highest elevation	N/A	Two Rock 536 m (1,759 ft)	Knockbrack 176 m (577 ft)	Kippure 757 m (2,484 ft)
Website	www.dublincity.ie	www.dlrcoco.ie	www.fingal.ie	www.sdcc.ie

Three Rock Mountain, Dublin, Ireland looking towards Bray Head

Despite the legal status of the Dublin Region, the term "County Dublin" is still in common usage. Many organisations and sporting teams continue to organise on a "County Dublin" or "Dublin Region" basis. The area formerly known as "County Dublin" is now defined in legislation solely as the "Dublin Region" under the Local Government Act, 1991 (Regional Authorities) (Establishment) Order, 1993,[8] and this is the terminology officially used by the four Dublin administrative councils in press releases concerning the former county area. The term Greater Dublin Area, which might consist of some or all of the Dublin Region along with counties of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow, has no legal standing.

The Dublin Region is a NUTS Level III region of Ireland. The region is one of eight regions of the Republic of Ireland for the purposes of Eurostat statistics. Its NUTS code is IE061.[16] It is co-extensive with the old county. The regional capital is Dublin City which is also the national capital.[17]

The latest Ordnance Survey Ireland "Discovery Series" (Third Edition 2005) 1:50,000 map of the Dublin Region, Sheet 50, shows the boundaries of the city and three surrounding counties of the region. Extremities of the Dublin Region, in the north and south of the region, appear in other sheets of the series, 43 and 56 respectively.

The Baronies of County Dublin

There are nine historic baronies in the county.[18] While baronies continue to be officially defined units, they are no longer used for many administrative purposes. The last boundary change of a barony in Dublin was in 1842, when the barony of Balrothery was divided into Balrothery East and Balrothery West. Their official status is illustrated by Placenames Orders made since 2003, where official Irish names of baronies are listed under "Administrative units". The largest barony in Dublin is Uppercross, at 37,307 acres (151 km2), and the smallest barony is Dublin, at 1,693 acres (6.9 km2).

• Balrothery East (Baile an Ridire Thoir)
• Balrothery West (Baile an Ridire Thiar)
• Castleknock (Caisleán Cnucha)
• Coolock (An Chúlóg)
• Dublin (Bhaile Átha Cliath)
• Dublin City (Cathair Baile Átha Cliath)
• Nethercross (An Chrois Íochtarach)
• Newcastle (An Caisleán Nua)
• Rathdown (Ráth an Dúin)
• Uppercross (An Chrois Uachtarach)

Townlands are the smallest officially defined geographical divisions in Ireland. There are 1,090 townlands in Dublin, of which 88 are historic town boundaries. These town boundaries are registered as their own townlands and are much larger than rural townlands. The smallest rural townlands in Dublin are just 1 acre in size, most of which are offshore islands (Clare Rock Island, Lamb Island, Maiden Rock, Muglins, Thulla Island). The largest rural townland in Dublin is 2,797 acres (Caastlekelly). The average size of a townland in the county (excluding towns) is 205 acres.

• Dublin Bay
• Dublin Mountains
• Glenasmole Valley
• Howth Head
• Killiney Hill
• Montpelier Hill
• Phoenix Park
• Rivers Liffey, Dodder and Tolka
• Rogerstown Estuary
• Ticknock Forest
• Velvet Strand

At an elevation of 757 metres (2,484 ft), Kippure is the highest point in the county

Summertime bathers at Sandycove

December snow at Killiney

Dublin is in a maritime temperate oceanic region according to Köppen climate classification. Its climate is characterised by cool winters, mild humid summers, and a lack of temperature extremes. Met Éireann have a number of weather stations in the county, with its two primary stations at Dublin Airport and Casement Aerodrome.

Annual temperatures typically fall within a narrow range. In Merrion Square, the coldest month is February, with an average minimum temperature of 2.7 °C (36.9 °F), and the hottest month is July, with an average maximum temperature of 20.2 °C (68.4 °F). Due to the urban heat island effect, Dublin city has the warmest summertime nights in Ireland. The average minimum temperature at Merrion Square in July is 13.5 °C (56.3 °F), similar to London and Berlin.[26] At Dublin Airport, the driest month is February with 48.8 mm (2 in) of rainfall, and the wettest month is November, with 79.0 mm (3 in) of rain on average.

As the prevailing wind direction in Ireland is from the south and west, the Wicklow Mountains create a rain shadow over much of the county. Dublin's sheltered location makes it the driest place in Ireland, receiving only about half the rainfall of the west coast. Ringsend in the south of Dublin city records the lowest rainfall in the country, with an average annual precipitation of 683 mm (27 in). The wettest area of the county is the Glenasmole Valley, which receives 1,159 mm (46 in) of rainfall per year. As a temperate coastal county, snow is relatively uncommon in lowland areas; however, Dublin is particularly vulnerable to heavy snowfall on rare occasions where cold, dry easterly winds dominate during the winter.[27]

During the late summer and early autumn, Dublin can experience Atlantic storms, which bring strong winds and torrential rain to Ireland. Dublin was the county worst-affected by Hurricane Charley in 1986. It caused severe flooding, especially along the River Dodder, and is reputed to be the worst flood event in Dublin's history. Rainfall records were shattered across the county. Kippure recorded 280 mm (11 in) of rain over a 24-hour period, the greatest daily rainfall total ever recorded in Ireland. The government allocated IR£6,449,000 (equivalent to US$20.5 million in 2020) to repair the damage wrought by Charley.[28] The two reservoirs at Bohernabreena in the Dublin Mountains were upgraded in 2006 after a study into the impact of Hurricane Charley concluded that a slightly larger storm would have caused the reservoir dams to burst, which would have resulted in catastrophic damage and significant loss of life.

In contrast with the Atlantic Coast, the east coast of Ireland has relatively few islands. County Dublin has the highest concentration of islands on the Irish east coast. Colt Island, St. Patrick's Island and Shenick Island are clustered off the coast of Skerries, and are collectively known as the "Skerries Islands Natural Heritage Area". Further out lies Rockabill, which is Dublin's most isolated island, at about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) offshore. Lambay Island, at 250 hectares (620 acres), is the largest island off Ireland's east coast and the easternmost point of County Dublin. Lambay supports one of the largest seabird colonies in Ireland and, curiously, also supports a population of non-native Red-necked wallabies.[29] To the south of Lambay lies a smaller island known as Ireland's Eye - the result of a mistranslation of the island's Irish name by invading Vikings.

Bull Island is a man-made island lying roughly parallel to the shoreline which began to form following the construction of the Bull Wall in 1825. The island is still growing and is currently 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) long and 0.8 kilometres (0.50 mi) wide. In 1981, North Bull Island (Oileán an Tairbh Thuaidh) was designated as a UNESCO biosphere.[30]

Dublin is the largest city in Ireland

Population density map of County Dublin

As of the 2016 Census, the population of Dublin was 1,345,402, a 5.7% increase since the 2011 Census. The county's population first surpassed 1 million in 1981, and is projected to reach between 1.5 million and 1.7 million by 2031.[37]

Dublin is Ireland's most populous county, a position it has held since the 1901 Census, when it overtook County Cork. As of 2016, Dublin has over twice the population of Antrim and two and a half times the population of Cork. Approximately 20.5% of Ireland's population lives within County Dublin (27% if only the Republic of Ireland is counted). Additionally, Dublin has more people than the combined populations of Ireland's 16 smallest counties.

With an area of just 922 km² (356 sq mi), Dublin is by far the most densely populated county in Ireland. The population density of the county is 1,459 people per square kilometre - nearly 7 times higher than Ireland's second most densely populated county, County Down in Northern Ireland.

During the Celtic Tiger period, a large number of Dublin natives (Dubliners) moved to the rapidly expanding commuter towns in the adjoining counties. As of 2016, approximately 25.8% (305,996) of Dubliners were living outside of County Dublin. People born within Dublin comprise 28% of the population of Meath, 31% of Kildare and 35% of Wicklow. There are 880,457 Dublin natives living within the county, accounting for 66.8% of the population. People born in other Irish counties living within Dublin account for roughly 12.4% of the population.[38]

Between 2011 and 2016, international migration produced a net increase of 25,261 people. Dublin has the highest proportion of international residents of any county in Ireland, with around 21% of the county's population being born outside of the Republic of Ireland.[39]

As of the 2016 Census, 6.8 percent of the county's population was reported as younger than 5 years old, 25.2 percent were between 5 and 25, 55.8 percent were between 25 and 65, and 12.2 percent of the population was older than 65. Of this latter group, 18,276 people (1.4 percent) were over the age of 80. The population was evenly split between females (50.14 percent) and males (49.86 percent).

In 2019, there were 17,682 births within the county, and the average age of a first time mother was 31.[40]

Main immigrant groups, 2016[41]
Country of birth	Population
United Kingdom	55,391
Poland	33,751
Romania	18,119
India	11,572
Brazil	9,865
Lithuania	9,013
United States	8,485
Philippines	8,223
China*	7,313
Nigeria	7,290
Italy	6,770
*Includes Hong Kong SAR

Just over one fifth (20.8 percent) of County Dublin's population was born outside of the Republic of Ireland. In 2016, Fingal had the highest percentage of non-nationals in Dublin (23.2 percent), and South Dublin had the lowest (17.5 percent). The immigrant population of Dublin is mainly from other European countries, however there are also substantial numbers of Indians, Brazilians, Americans and East Asians living in the county. Immigrants from other European Union member states comprise 10.4 percent of Dublin's population, and those from the United Kingdom a further 5.3 percent.[42]

The largest sources of foreign-born residents in Dublin are the United Kingdom and Poland, although the growth of these two groups has slowed in recent years. Prior to the 2000s, the UK was historically the largest single source of non-nationals living in Dublin. Of those born in the UK, 76.3 percent were born in Britain, and the remaining 23.7 percent were born in Northern Ireland. Between 2011 and 2016, the number of UK-born residents living in Dublin declined by 1.8 percent.

There is a large difference between the number of people living in Dublin who were born in the UK (55,391) and those who stated that they were UK citizens in the 2016 census (19,196). This discrepancy can arise for a variety of factors, such as people born in Northern Ireland claiming Irish citizenship rather than UK citizenship, Irish people born in the UK who now live in Dublin, British people who have become natural citizens, and foreign residents of Dublin who were born in the UK but are not UK citizens. Depending on an individual's responses in the census, all of these examples could result in the country of birth being registered by the CSO as the United Kingdom, but nationality being registered as Irish or a third country.

Following its accession to the EU, the Polish quickly became the fastest growing immigrant community in Dublin. Just 188 Poles had applied for Irish work permits in 1999. By 2006 this number had grown to 93,787.[43] After the 2008 Irish economic downturn, as many as 3,000 Poles left Ireland each month. Despite this, Poles still account for roughly one quarter of Dublin's EU foreign residents, and are the largest non-national group in the county, as well as the second largest foreign-born group.

As of 2016, the fastest growing major immigrant group in Dublin was Romanians. Despite being an EU member since 2007, Ireland had restrictions on the number of Romanians who could emigrate to the country until 2012. The removal of the restrictions was followed by a significant increase in the number of Romanians living in Dublin. The five year period from 2011 to 2016 saw a 67.7 percent increase in the number of Romanians living in Dublin, who are now the county's third largest foreign national group. County Dublin is home to around 58 percent of Ireland's Romanian community.

Outside of Europe, Brazil and India are the largest and fastest growing sources of foreign residents in Dublin. The number of Brazilians living in Dublin increased by 48.5 percent between 2011 and 2016, primarily driven by Ireland's participation in the Brazilian government's Ciência sem Fronteiras programme, which sees thousands of Brazilian students come to study in Ireland each year, many of whom remain in the country afterwards. Dublin's Indian community grew by 15.1 percent from 2011-2016, and Indians are now the fourth largest migrant group in the county. The influx of Indians is primarily driven by multinational tech companies such as Microsoft, Google and Facebook who have located their European headquarters within the county, in areas such as the Silicon Docks and Sandyford. In August 2020, the first dedicated Hindu temple in Ireland was built in Walkinstown.[44]

According to the Central Statistics Office, in 2016 the population of County Dublin self-identified as:

• 87.6% White (75.5% White Irish, 11.7% Other White Background, 0.5% Irish Traveler)
• 3.8% Asian
• 2.3% Mixed background
• 2.2% Black
• 4.1% Not Stated

By ethnicity, in 2016 the population was 87.6% white. Those who identified as White Irish constituted 75.5% of the county's population, and Irish Travelers comprised a further 0.5%. Caucasians who did not identify as ethnically Irish accounted for 11.7% of the population.

In terms of total numbers, Dublin has the largest non-white population Ireland, with an estimated 109,732 residents, accounting for 8.3% of the county's population. Nearly half (44.7 percent) of Ireland's black residents live within the county. In terms of percentage of population, Fingal has the highest percentage of both black (3.9 percent) and non-white (10.1 percent) residents of any local authority in Ireland. Conversely, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown in the south of the county has one of Ireland's lowest percentages of black residents, with only 0.67% of the population identifying as black in 2016. Additionally, 42.8% of Ireland's multiracial population lives within County Dublin.[45]

St Patrick's Cathedral, founded in 1191

The largest religious denomination by both number of adherents and as a percentage of Dublin's population in 2016 was the Roman Catholic Church, with 68.9 percent. All other Christian denominations including Church of Ireland, Eastern Orthodox, Presbyterian and Methodist accounted for 7.0 percent of Dublin's population. Together, all denominations of Christianity accounted for 75.9 percent of the county's population. According to the 2016 census, Dublin city is the least religious local authority in Ireland, with 18.1 percent of the population declaring themselves non-religious, followed closely by Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown and Galway city (17.1 percent). In the county as a whole, those unaffiliated with any religion represented 14.4 percent of the population, which is the largest percentage of non-religious people of any county in Ireland.

Of the non-Christian religions, Islam is the largest in terms of number of adherents, with Muslims accounting for 2.2% of the population. After Islam, the largest non-Christian religions in 2016 were Hinduism (0.62 percent), Buddhism (0.32 percent) and Judaism (0.11 percent). While small in percentage terms, County Dublin contains over half of Ireland's Hindu (58.4 percent), Jewish (56.3 percent) and Eastern Orthodox (52.1%) residents, and just under half of its Islamic (47.3 percent) and Buddhist (44.0 percent) residents.[46]

Dublin and its hinterland has been a Christian diocese since 1028. For centuries, the Primacy of Ireland was disputed between Dublin, the social and political capital of Ireland, and Armagh, site of Saint Patrick's main church, which was founded in 445 AD. In 1353 the dispute was settled by Pope Innocent VI, who proclaimed that the Archbishop of Dublin was Primate of Ireland, while the Archbishop of Armagh was titled Primate of All Ireland. These two distinct titles were replicated in the Church of Ireland following the Reformation. Historically, County Dublin was the epicentre of Protestantism in Ireland outside of Ulster. Records from the 1891 census show that the county was 21.4 percent Protestant towards the end of the 19th century. By the 1911 census this had gradually declined to around 20% due to poor economic conditions, as Dublin Protestants moved to industrial Belfast. Following the War of Independence (1919-1921), Dublin's Protestant community went into a steady decline, falling to 8.5 percent of the population by 1936.[47]

Between the 2011 and 2016 census, the fastest growing religions in Dublin were Evangelicalism (111.7 percent), Eastern Orthodox (41.0 percent), Hinduism (30.1 percent) and Islam (17.7 percent), while the most rapidly declining religions were Methodist/Wesleyan (-9.6 percent), Catholicism (-5.5 percent) and Anglicanism (-4.7 percent).

The boundaries of Dublin City Council comprise the urban core of the city, often referred to as "Dublin city centre", an area of 117.8 square kilometres. This encompasses the central suburbs of the city, extending as far south as Terenure and Donnybrook; as far north as Ballymun and Donaghmede; and as far west as Ballyfermot. As of 2016, there were 554,554 people living within Dublin city centre. However, as the continuous built-up area extends beyond the city boundaries, the term "Dublin city and suburbs" is commonly employed when referring to the actual extent of Dublin.

Map of Greater Dublin's defined boundaries

Dublin city and suburbs is a CSO-designated urban area which includes the densely populated contiguous built-up area which surrounds Dublin city centre. It encompasses 317.5 square kilometres and contains approximately 87% of County Dublin's population (1,173,179 people) as of the 2016 census.

As the city proper does not extend beyond Dublin Airport, the towns of "North County Dublin" such as Swords, Lusk, Rush and Malahide are not considered part of the city, and are recorded by the CSO as separate settlements. Under Ireland's National Planning Framework, these towns are considered part of the Dublin Metropolitan Area (DMA). The DMA also includes towns outside of the county, such as Naas, Leixlip and Maynooth in County Kildare, and Bray and Greystones in County Wicklow, but does not include Balbriggan or Skerries, which are located in the far north of County Dublin.[48]

The Greater Dublin Area (GDA) is a commonly used planning jurisdiction which extends to the wider network of commuter towns that are economically connected to Dublin city. The GDA consists of County Dublin and its three neighboring counties, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow. With a population of 1.9 million and an area of 6,986 square kilometres, it contains 40% of the population of the State, and covers 9.9% of its land area.

Under CSO classification, an "Urban Area" is a town with a population greater than 1,500. Dublin is the most urbanised county in Ireland, with 97.75% of its residents residing in urban areas as of 2016. Of Dublin's three non-city local authorities, Fingal has the highest proportion of people living in rural areas (7.9%), while Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown has the lowest (1.19%). The western suburbs of Dublin city such as Tallaght and Blanchardstown have experienced rapid growth in recent decades, and both areas have a population roughly equivalent to Galway city.

• Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council (2009). Did You Know...? Forgotten Aspects of our Local Heritage. Dublin: Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council. ISBN 978-0-9557829-2-3.