Dún Laoghaire - Rathdown Today

Dún Laoghaire Rathdown today is a modern urban area with many local villages incorporated into the urban landscape. It has a harbour which houses the ferryport and a large marina and other marine leisure features whose importance for harbour usage and revenue is superseding the traditional ferryport. The arrival of cruise liners is a new and developing aspect of the harbour. Although the county area is small it has quite a large population.

There are a number of industrial estates including IT and some chemical / pharmaceutical factories. Many workers commute to the greater Dublin area by car, Dart train, Luas Tram and Bus. There are many public parks ranging from smaller urban parks to large open areas of parkland. Many have playgrounds for children. There are public libraries in almost all the villages. As well as the town and village shops, there are large shopping centres. Educational facilities include many primary and secondary schools, mostly denominational, and also a third level institute, Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art Design and Technology.

The major road through the area is the N11 which is all dual-carriageway. A number of routes provide access to the nearby M50 motorway around Dublin city. Deansgrange Cemetery is one of the three largest cemeteries in the greater Dublin County area.

 

Notable People

Many famous people have lived in the Dún Laoghaire - Rathdown area including:

Lord Edward Fitzgerald inFrascati Blackrock
Count Horace Plunkett in Foxrock
Roger Casement in Dún Laoghaire
Samuel Beckett in Foxrock
James Joyce lived at various places locally (there is Joyce’s tower at Sandycove)
George Bernard Shaw in Torca Cottage, Killiney
Lennox Robinson in Killiney