Areas of the Northside

Areas of the Northside include Artane, Baldoyle, Ballymun, Beaumont, Broadstone, Cabra, Castleknock, Clontarf, Coolock, Donnycarney, Drumcondra, East Wall, Fairview, Finglas, Glasnevin, Grangegorman, Howth, Kilbarrack, Killester, Marino, North Wall, Phibsboro, Raheny, Santry, Smithfield, Stoneybatter, Sutton, Whitehall. The 'area' is administered both by Dublin City Council (formerly Dublin Corporation) and Fingal County Council, each responsible for 84% and 16% of the land area which lies inside the M50 motorway and north of the river Liffey respectively (excluding the Howth peninsula). The Fingal/Dublin city boundary, when drawn up in 1985, was viewed as the edge of all Northside development from Dublin City at that time.

Postcodes

In general, postal code areas in the Northside are odd, while Southside codes are even. One exception is the Phoenix Park, which is on the Northside but has an even postal code (8). Anecdotally this is thought to be because the park is home to the official residence of the President of Ireland, and it was thought unsuitable for the President to live on the unfashionable Northside when the numbering system was being introduced. However the real reason behind this, as explained by eminent Dublin historian Pat Liddy.

"There is a very simple, practical reason why the Phoenix Park is in Dublin 8 and it has nothing whatever to do with snobbery but with practicality.

Long before there were postal codes the James's St Postal Sorting Office looked after the Phoenix Park because it was considered to be closer and more convenient than Phibsborough (Dublin 7). James's St continued in this role when the postal codes were introduced so Dublin 8 it had to be."

This system will be abolished on the 1 January 2008 with the introduction of an Irish postal code system, of which the primary identifier digit(s) will be the relevant administrative county or city as opposed to An Post geographical divides.

Landmarks

Famous places on the Northside include the city's main thoroughfare, O'Connell Street, home to the GPO and the Spire of Dublin. Off O'Connell Street are the Abbey Theatre, Gate Theatre, Ambassador Theatre and Garden of Remembrance at Parnell Square.

Along the north quays of the Liffey are the Four Courts, Customs House, the International Financial Services Centre and The Point Theatre.

Away from the river important locations include (in no particular order) Áras an Uachtaráin, Farmleigh, Dunsink Observatory, St Anne's Park, Mountjoy Jail, the Royal Canal, St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral, St. Michan's Church, St. Mary's Church, St. Doulagh's Church, Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, Dublin Writers Museum, National Transport Museum of Ireland, Croke Park, Dublin City University, The Helix, the SFX City Theatre, the New Eblana Theatre, Davis Gallery, Glasnevin Cemetery, the National Aquatic Centre, King's Inns, the Mater Hospital and the Decorative Arts and History site of the National Museum of Ireland. The Rotunda Hospital on Parnell Square is the oldest purpose-built maternity hospital in the world.

Other tourist attractions include the Old Jameson Whiskey Distillery, the National Wax Museum, the James Joyce Centre, Smithfield Plaza and Observation Tower, the Phoenix Park, Dublin Zoo, the National Botanic Gardens, the open-air stalls of the traders on Moore Street and the Casino at Marino. There are many castles on the Northside including Castleknock Castle, Howth Castle, Clontarf Castle and Swords Castle.

Major transport hubs include Connolly Station, Busáras (the bus station) and Dublin Airport.

Many state bodies such as the national meteorological office, Met Éireann, the Central Fisheries Board, the national enterprise and trade board, Enterprise Ireland, the Department of Education and the Department of Defence are based on the Northside.

The main shopping area in the north innercity is Henry Street/Mary Street, just off O'Connell street. Three of the five city centre shopping centres are located on the Northside, these are the Jervis Centre, the Ilac Shopping Centre and the Irish Life Shopping Mall.

The Cineworld (UGC) cinema on Parnell Street is the largest cinema in Ireland with seventeen screens, the other notable north innercity cinema, the Savoy, is located on O'Connell Street and is one of Ireland's oldest cinemas.

Famous Northsiders

Bram Stoker lived in Marino and wrote his most famous novel, Dracula, while living in a house on Marino Crescent, a curved terrace of houses reminiscent of the Royal Crescent in Bath. Legend has it that the terrace was built where it is deliberately to block the seaviews of the builder's rival, a rich landowner, from his estate the Casino at Marino. The house is currently used for the Bram Stoker cultural Heritage visitor centre

Two Taoisigh, Bertie Ahern and Charles Haughey are from the Northside - Ahern from Drumcondra and Haughey from Donnycarney. Perhaps the most famous Northsiders are the rock group U2, which formed at Mount Temple secondary school on the Malahide Road.

Dublin City University, Dublin's newest university, is located on the Northside, in the Glasnevin area.