South Dublin Áth Cliath Theas
Motto: Ag Seo Ár gCúram  (Irish) "This We Hold in Trust"
Location
Statistics
Province:	Leinster
County seat:	Tallaght
Code:	D (SN proposed)
Area:	222.74 km²
Population (2006)	246,919
Website: www.sdublincoco.ie

South Dublin (Irish: Áth Cliath Theas) is a county in Ireland, one of the three administrative counties formed from County Dublin in 1994. With its county seat located in Tallaght, it has a population of a quarter of a million.

Contents 1 History and naming 1.1 Arms 2 Geography 3 South Dublin towns and villages 3.1 List of South Dublin residential areas 4 Amenities 5 See also 6 Footnote 7 External links

[edit] History and naming

South Dublin was created along with two other counties from the former County of Dublin. The area was part of County Dublin until its dissolution as such in 1994, where Section 9 Part 1(a) of the Local Government (Dublin) Act, 1993 stated that as of 1 January 1994 "the county shall cease to exist".^[1] Further details with regard to the county were settled by the Local Government Act 2001.

South Dublin was based on an existing electoral division, Belgard (An Bealach Ard), whose boundaries were only finalized in 1993, to accommodate the M50 motorway, and then used when it was made an Administrative County in 1994 (Fingal and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown's boundaries and names were both set in 1985). The name of Belgard did have a historical association with the area, being the designation of one of the border fortresses of the Pale that existed in that area. It was altered however due to a view that the name Belgard might create associations with areas of modern development in Tallaght that now also use that name. The county is still identified as Belgard by certain Government departments¹ to differentiate it from the geographical area of what used to be the southern part of County Dublin.^[2]

[edit] Arms

The coat of arms for South Dublin reads "This We Hold In Trust" in both English and Irish, while incorporating elements of the history, geography, and present day infrastructure of the area.

[edit] Geography

South Dublin has an area of 222.74 square kilometres and begins 15 km south west of the capital. It is bounded by the Dublin Mountains to the south and stretches from the River Liffey at Lucan through Palmerstown, Clondalkin, south to Newcastle, Rathcoole, and west past Saggart. It includes Tallaght and stretches east to Templeogue and Rathfarnham. South Dublin is bordered by all other elements of County Dublin, Fingal and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, as well as Dublin City, and also by the counties of Kildare and Wicklow.

[edit] South Dublin towns and villages

Most areas in south Dublin are also suburbs of Dublin city but some, such as Newcastle, Rathcoole and Saggart, are too remote for this.

The County Council designates status of towns, villages and suburbs in three tiers - town, district centre and local centre, and these are used in planning and management. In the current development plan, the towns and district centres are listed as:

• Tallaght (county seat)
• Clondalkin ("to be facilitated and developed as a Town Centre... including northward development")
• Lucan (with notes on the Liffey Valley Centre, and the developing Adamstown area - a future "district centre" - and a stated aim to avoid Lucan merging with Leixlip)
• and with a proposal to develop a Town Centre around the Liffey Valley Centre at Quarryvale

while the more local centres are noted in three groups:

• city suburbs including at least Rathfarnham, Palmerstown, Templeogue, Knocklyon and Greenhills
• villages such as Rathcoole, Newcastle(-Lyons), and Saggart
• new neighbourhoods, some within bigger, older areas - including such as Kilnamanagh, Ballyowen, Finnstown, and, in development, Adamstown.^[3]

[edit] List of South Dublin residential areas

[edit] Amenities

The Institute of Technology, Tallaght is located within the county, as is Tallaght Hospital.

[edit] See also

• Dublin South (Dáil Éireann constituency)
• South Dublin (UK Parliament constituency)

[edit] Footnote

• Department of Education and Science

[edit] External links

• South Dublin County Council
• Lucan St. Patrick's Day Parade

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