Dublin Metropolitan Area is a term used by various bodies to describe the area of Dublin, Ireland, and its surrounding counties which have an urban designation; between these bodies its definition is not always consistent.
Contents |
| Division | Districts |
|---|---|
| North | Coolock |
| Raheny | |
| Santry
Balbriggan |
|
| South | Crumlin |
| Tallaght | |
| Terenure | |
| East | Blackrock |
| Dún Laoghaire | |
| West | Blanchardstown |
| Naas | |
| Clondalkin | |
| Lucan | |
| North Central | Bridewell |
| Fitzgibbon Street | |
| Store Street | |
| South Central | Donnybrook |
| Kevin Street | |
| Pearse Street |
The Dublin Metropolitan Region is a term used to describe the former geographic jurisdiction of the Irish police force, An Garda Síochána within the eastern part of Ireland. This jurisdiction formerly covered parts of the old County Dublin (except the northern part around Swords) as well as the County Kildare town of Leixlip and the County Wicklow towns of Bray, Greystones and Enniskerry. Swords was covered by the Meath Garda Division. In this way it differed from the usual definition of County Dublin and did not even conform to the looser definition of the Greater Dublin Area. The definition no longer applies as during 2008 the Garda Divisions were realigned along Regional and county boundaries. As of 2009, the Dublin Metropolitan Region is co-extensive with the Dublin Region. This boundary has legal importance, for example licences for digital television in Dublin, such as that held by NTL Ireland, cover the Metropolitan Area.
Leixlip was moved to the County Kildare Division and became the district headquarters for the new Leixlip District [1]. Bray moved into the new County Wicklow Division and became district headquarters for the Bray District [2].
The term originated from the Police Forces Amalgamation Act, 1925 (Section 3); that act amagamated the Dublin Metropolitan Police and Garda Síochána as one national police force.
A similar term has been used in the Regional Planning Guidelines[3]. Instead of the "Dublin Metropolitan Area ", they refer to the Greater Dublin Area. In this context, the area of Dublin and its environs is to be consolidated as a suburban and metropolitan district. It differentiates between which towns are considered suburbs, and which are considered commuter towns. The area is considered as being from Swords and Malahide in Fingal to Greystones in County Wicklow in the south, and as far west as Kilcock in County Kildare. This differs from the Garda designation in that it stretches some 20 km further west.