Irish Counties - Dublin

County Dublin (Contae Áth Cliath) contains the City of Dublin, the capital and largest city of the Republic of Ireland.

Dublin is located on the east coast of Ireland in the province of Leinster. The area formerly held county status until its dissolution as such in 1994, where Section 9 Part 1(a) of the Local Government (Dublin) Act, 1993 stated that as of 1st January 1994 "the county shall cease to exist". At that time, and in response to a European Council report highlighting Ireland as the most centralised country in the European Union, it was decided that a single County Dublin was unmanageable and undemocratic from a Local Government perspective. The county was formally abolished and replaced with Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, and South Dublin. The Government was fully aware of the magnitude of the legislation that was being passed, most poignantly noted by Deputy Avril Doyle in the Dáil assembly of the 3rd of November 1993, where she declared "The Bill before us today effectively abolishes County Dublin. I am not sure whether Dubliners realise that that is what we are about today, but in effect that is the case". At present, many organisations, state agencies and sporting teams continue to operate on a "County Dublin" basis. Subsequently, much confusion exists around the legitimacy of the new counties - though they do have administrative county status, the only protected recognition of a county within the Irish State. The new counties, in place of County Dublin, will appear on all Irish national maps from 2006 onwards. The formal title of what was County Dublin in Irish legislation is now the Greater Dublin Area.

The Celtic settlement Áth Cliath ("hurdle ford") predates Dublin's establishment as the Viking settlement "Dubh Linn" in the ninth century. The modern city retains the anglicised Irish name of the latter and the Irish of the former. After the Norman invasion of Ireland, Dublin displaced the Hill of Tara as Ireland's capital, much of the power centring on Dublin Castle until independence. From the 17th century the city expanded rapidly, helped by the Wide Streets Commission. 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 cities buildings but took no bold tasks such as remodelling, it moved parliament into Leinster House. After The Emergency, Dublin remained a capital out of time, modernisation was slow, the it wasn't until the 1960s that change start. In recent years the infrastructure has been changed immensely.

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• Dublin People
• Dublin History
• Dublin Travel

Writers associated with Co. Dublin include:

• Barry, Sebastian dramatist, poet, novelist
• Beckett, Samuel poet, dramatist, novelist and critic
• Behan, Brendan poet, short story writer, dramatist & essayist
• Binchy, Maeve novelist & short story writer
• Bolger, Dermot poet, novelist, dramatist
• Brown, Christy autobiographer, novelist & poet
• Ingoldsby, Pat
• Joyce, James poet, novelist & playwright
• Mangan, James Clarence
• Plunkett, James short story writer, novelist, film script writer & essayist
• Swift, Jonathan
• Yeats, William Butler poet, playwright, essayist & autobiographer

Towns and Villages:
Balbriggan, Blanchardstown, Castleknock, Clondalkin, Dún Laoghaire, Dalkey, Dundrum, Howth, Killiney, Lucan, Malahide, Mulhuddart, Newcastle, Palmerstown, Rathcoole, Rathfarnham, Saggart, Sandyford, Swords, Tallaght, Templeogue