Dublin
Dublin (/ˈdʌblɪn/ ⓘ; Irish: Baile Átha Cliath,[9] pronounced [ˈbˠalʲə aːhə ˈclʲiə] or [ˌbʲlʲaː ˈclʲiə]) is the capital and largest city of Ireland.[10][11] On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2022 census, the city council area had a population of 592,713, while Dublin City and its suburbs had a population of 1,263,219, and County Dublin had a population of 1,501,500.[3][7][12]
This article is about the capital of Ireland. For other uses, see Dublin (disambiguation).
Dublin
Irish: Baile Átha Cliath
A settlement was established in the area by the Gaels during or before the 7th century,[13] followed by the Vikings. As the Kingdom of Dublin grew, it became Ireland's principal settlement by the 12th century Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland.[13] The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest in the British Empire and sixth largest in Western Europe after the Acts of Union in 1800.[14] Following independence in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, renamed Ireland in 1937. As of 2018, the city was listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) as a global city, with a ranking of "Alpha minus", which placed it among the top thirty cities in the world.[15][16]
Irish language[edit]
Dublin was traditionally a city of two languages, English and Irish, a situation found also in the area around it, The Pale. The Irish of County Dublin represented the easternmost extension of a broad central dialect area which stretched between Leinster and Connacht, but had its own local characteristics. It may also have been influenced by the east Ulster dialect of County Meath and County Louth to the north.[206]
In the words of a 16th-century English administrator, William Gerard (1518–1581): "All Englishe, and the most part with delight, even in Dublin, speak Irishe".[207] The Old English historian Richard Stanihurst (1547–1618) wrote as follows: "When their posteritie became not altogither so warie in keeping, as their ancestors were valiant in conquering, the Irish language was free dennized in the English Pale: this canker tooke such deep root, as the bodie that before was whole and sound, was by little and little festered, and in manner wholly putrified".[208]
English authorities of the Cromwellian period accepted the fact that Irish was widely spoken in the city and its surrounds. In 1655 several local dignitaries were ordered to oversee a lecture in Irish to be given in Dublin. In March 1656 a converted Catholic priest, Séamas Corcy, was appointed to preach in Irish at Bride's parish every Sunday, and was also ordered to preach at Drogheda and Athy.[209] In 1657 the English colonists in Dublin presented a petition to the Municipal Council complaining that in Dublin itself "there is Irish commonly and usually spoken".[210]
In early 18th century Dublin, Irish was the language of a group of poets and scribes led by Seán and Tadhg Ó Neachtain.[211] Scribal activity in Irish persisted in Dublin right through the 18th century.[212] There were still native Irish speakers in County Dublin at the time of the 1851 census.[213]
Though the number of Irish speakers declined throughout Ireland in the 19th century, the end of the century saw a Gaelic revival, centred in Dublin and accompanied by renewed literary activity.[214] This was the harbinger of a steady renewal of urban Irish, though with new characteristics of its own.[215][216]
Dublin now has many thousands of habitual Irish speakers, with the 2016 census showing that daily speakers (outside the education system) numbered 14,903. They form part of an urban Irish-speaking cohort which is generally better-educated than monoglot English speakers.[217]
The Dublin Irish-speaking cohort is supported by a number of Irish-medium schools. There are 12,950 students in the Dublin region attending 34 gaelscoileanna (Irish-language primary schools) and 10 gaelcholáistí (Irish-language secondary schools).[218]
Two Irish language radio stations, Raidió Na Life and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, have studios in the city, and the online station Raidió Rí-Rá broadcasts from studios in the city. A number of Irish language agencies are also located in the capital. Conradh na Gaeilge offers language classes and is used as a meeting place for different groups. The closest Gaeltacht to Dublin is the County Meath Gaeltacht of Ráth Cairn and Baile Ghib which is 55 km (34 mi) away.