Kildare Street

Leinster House
The former palace of the Duke of Leinster. Since 1922, it has been the seat of both houses of the Irish parliament.

Kildare Street (Irish: Sráid Chill Dara) is a well-known street in Dublin, the capital city of Ireland close to the principal shopping area of Grafton Street and Dawson Street, to which it is joined by Molesworth Street. Some Irish government departments have their offices on this street but Leinster House, the current seat of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament), built by Richard Cassels in 1745 is Kildare Street's most important building. The Archaeology and History section of the National Museum of Ireland and the National Library of Ireland are located on either side of the Leinster House and were built in 1885.

Trinity College lies at the north end of the street while St Stephen's Green is at the southern end, with the well-known Shelbourne Hotel on the eastern corner. The Dublin offices of Alliance française are located at 1 Kildare Street.

On the corner with Leinster Street is the former Kildare Street Club, which before the partition of Ireland was at the heart of the Anglo-Irish Protestant Ascendancy.

In 1972, in advance of Ireland joining the then European Economic Community the then Chief Justice, and later President of Ireland, Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh wrote to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Patrick Hillery, who also later was elected President of Ireland, seeking for the street to be renamed Rue de l'Europe.^[1]

See also

• List of streets and squares in Dublin

References

1. "Revealed: the gaffes of Ó Dálaigh". Irish Independent. 24 November 2012.

External links

• Buildings in Kildare Street
• National Library of Ireland
• National Museum of Ireland
• KildareStreet.com, a searchable archive of what's been said in the Dáil

Coordinates: 53°20′36″N 6°15′20″W / 53.34333°N 6.25556°W