Greater Dublin Area

Definitions

Planning usage

The 2003 Regional Planning Guidelines referred to the Greater Dublin Area as a planning district separated into a "metropolitan area" and a "hinterland area".

The "metropolitan area" included both suburbs and commuter towns, covering the area from Swords and Malahide in Fingal, to Greystones in County Wicklow in the south, and as far west as Kilcock in County Kildare. This area differs from the Garda "metropolitan region" scope, in that it stretches approximately 20 km further west.

The Dublin Metropolitan Area is now defined as:

The Dublin "Hinterland" area is aligned with the Draft National Planning Framework, which defines city regions or urban hinterlands as those EDs where at least 15% of the workforce (Full POWCAR) are employed in the Dublin Metropolitan Area (NTA boundary).

Dublin Transport Authority

At the broader end of definitions, the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008 defines the Greater Dublin Area as including the counties of Dublin (Dublin City, South Dublin, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown and Fingal), Meath, Kildare, and Wicklow; as of 2022, its estimated population is 2,073,459.

Former boundaries

The urban part of Dublin and surrounding areas has been defined by various statutory instruments, mainly those referring to the Garda Síochána and Courts of the Republic of Ireland. The city, three other counties within the traditional County Dublin, and three neighbouring counties, were grouped together in the order creating the Dublin Transportation Office, giving functions and representations to the office in this area, although not using the term. The office was purely advisory and had no executive powers. The term was later defined in section 3 of the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008. On 1 December 2009 the DTO became the National Transport Authority, with a remit expanding beyond the Greater Dublin Area.

Garda usage

The Garda used the term the Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR) which was formerly the jurisdiction, within the eastern part of Ireland, of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, which was subsequently merged into the Garda Síochána, the national police force of Ireland. The term originated from the Police Forces Amalgamation Act 1925, which amalgamated the Dublin Metropolitan Police and Garda Síochána as one national police force.

This jurisdiction covered parts of the old County Dublin (except the northern part around Swords) as well as the County Kildare town of Leixlip and the County Wicklow towns of Bray, Greystones and Enniskerry. Swords was covered by the Meath Garda Division. In this way, it differed from the usual definition of County Dublin and did not even conform to the looser definition of the Greater Dublin Area.

The definition no longer applies, as during 2008 the Garda divisions were realigned along Regional and county boundaries. As of 2009, the Dublin Metropolitan Region is co-extensive with the combined area of the city of Dublin, and the counties of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. Leixlip was moved to the County Kildare Division and became the district headquarters for the new Leixlip District. Bray moved into the new County Wicklow Division and became district headquarters for the Bray District.

Population

The CSO also uses the narrower definition which comprises Dublin City and its suburbs within the 3 local Dublin authorities. The boundaries for suburbs are not legally defined, but drawn and revised by the CSO in accordance with United Nations recommendations. The population distribution of the Greater Dublin Area as of the 2011, 2016 and 2022 censuses was as follows:

Historical

Gallery

File:O'Connell Street.jpg|alt=|Upper O'Connell Street in central Dublin city File:Dún Laoghaire Harbour (42045566592).jpg|alt=|Dún Laoghaire harbour in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown File:LUAS tram no. 3013 at Tallaght, Dublin - geograph.org.uk - 2540478.jpg|alt=|Central Tallaght in South Dublin File:Swords in Dublin K67.jpg|Main Street in Swords, County Dublin File:New Shopping District Ashbourne 2006-4-30.jpg|Killegland Street in Ashbourne, County Meath File:MAYNOOTH UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FEBRUARY 2016.jpg|National University of Ireland at Maynooth, County Kildare File:Bray Station - geograph.org.uk - 2234474.jpg|alt=|Bray Daly railway station in Bray, County Wicklow

References

References

1. "Gross domestic product (GDP) at current market prices by metropolitan regions". [[Eurostat]].
2. (December 2003). "Draft Regional Report – Greater Dublin Area". Dublin and Mid-East Regional Authorities.
3. (November 2017). "DUBLIN Strategic Planning Area (SPA) Socio-Economic Evidence Baseline Report".
4. {{cite Irish legislation. (2008). (16 July 2008)
5. {{Cite Irish legislation. (1995). (7 November 1995)
6. {{cite Irish legislation. (2009). (27 November 2009)
7. {{cite Irish legislation. (1925). (2 April 1925)
8. (14 October 2008). "New 24-hour Leixlip garda station opens". Leinster Leader.
9. (9 May 2008). "Bray to become Garda HQ for County Wicklow". Bray People.
10. "CSO Ireland – ''Regional Population Projections 2011–2026''".
11. (26 April 2007). "Census 2006 Volume 1 – Population Classified by Area: Appendices". [[Central Statistics Office (Ireland).
12. Central Statistics Office (Ireland). (26 April 2007). "Census 2006 Volume 1 – Population Classified by Area: Appendices".
13. "Population of each Province, County and City, 2016". [[Central Statistics Office (Ireland).
14. "Population of each County and City, 2011". [[Central Statistics Office (Ireland).
15. "Central Statistics Office – Census of Population Database".