Dublin

Dublin is the capital of Ireland, and its largest city. Its usual Irish name is Baile Átha Cliath (Template:IPA2), which translates as "the town of the hurdled ford." It is also sometimes named Dubh Linn in Irish, which translates as "black pool." The two Irish names are accounted for by the fact that there were originally two settlements in the vicinity, which eventually merged.

Dublin is located on Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey, at coordinates 53.3 degrees north, 6.2 degrees west.

Local government

The city of Dublin is managed and governed by Dublin City Council, a unicameral body comprising 52 Councillors elected to represent local wards. The Council is headed by a Lord Mayor - currently Cllr. Paddy Bourke - who sits for a year-long term. The Lord Mayor's official residence is the Mansion House. While the Lord Mayor chairs council meetings, the role is otherwise largely ceremonial, with no additional powers. The Green Party have proposed that the Lord Mayor should be directly elected by the people of Dublin (currently the office is filled by an election of Councillors) and should have executive powers. Due to the centralised nature of government in Ireland, the Council - as with all other local authorities in the state - actually has quite limited powers. What power it does have largely reside with the permanent staff, especially the City Manager, who is effectively the Chief Executive of the Council.

The Council's responsibilities cover a wide range of areas, including city planning and zoning; provision of public utilities such as water, street lights and sewage; provision of local authority housingp; waste collection; traffic management; provision of leisure and educational facilities such as parks, swimming pools and libraries; operation of emergency services such as Dublin Fire Brigade, and so on.

Population

The population of Dublin City proper was 506,211 as of the 2006 national census This represents a small increase of 2.1% since the last census, carried out in 2002. Dublin City and County, taken together, had a population of 1,187,176.

Modern Dublin

The modern city of Dublin is a significant European capital and is by far Ireland's most important city in terms of population, commerce, transport and government. After recession in the 1980s, Dublin has benefitted greatly from the boom in the Irish economy (known as the Celtic Tiger) that began in the 1990s. It has attracted major investment, and become the European and EMEA headquarters for many multinational companies, especially those in the pharmaceutical and information technology industries. In software, Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Paypal, among others, all run their European operations from the city. Dublin is the headquarters for most national and international Irish businesses, including Allied Irish Bank and the Bank of Ireland.

International finance services operations were attracted to the city with the development of the International Financial Services Centre and the application of generous tax breaks in the 1990s. The development, in Dublin's docklands, sees a turnover of over €1 trillion ($1.3 trillion) annually.

The government of Ireland has sat in Dublin, in Leinster House, since independence, and the President's residence, Áras an Uactaráin, is in Phoenix Park.

External Links

• Dublin City Council official website