Economy of Dublin facts for kids
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Dublin is the largest city and capital of Ireland, and is the country's economic hub. As well as being the location of the national parliament and most of the civil service, Dublin is also the focal point of media in the country. Much of Ireland's transportation network radiates from the city, and Dublin Port is responsible for a large proportion of Ireland's import and export trade.
Dublin is home to a number of multinational corporations, including in "hi tech" sectors such as information technology, digital media, financial services and the pharmaceutical industry. Dublin is also the location of the headquarters of several large Irish public companies including Bank of Ireland, DCC plc, AIB Group, Ardagh Group, CRH plc, Ryanair, Smurfit Kappa and Flutter Entertainment (formerly Paddy Power Betfair). Many of Ireland's public sector and state owned employers are based in Dublin including utility companies such as ESB Group, educational institutions such as Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, Dublin City University and Technological University Dublin and most of Ireland's higher courts, RTÉ (Irelands national public service broadcaster), and several teaching hospitals. Other employers service the tourism and retail markets.
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Transport
Canals and ports
Ireland's two longest canals, the Royal Canal and the Grand Canal, meet in Dublin Bay. The Irish railway system radiates from Dublin run by Irish Rail. Similarly, a number of routes in the Irish road system spread outwards from Dublin. Dublin Port is Ireland's largest port facility. The port of Dún Laoghaire is also located within the county.
Dublin Airport
Dublin Airport is the biggest and busiest in Ireland, with two terminals, handling almost 33 million passengers annually (as of 2019). The Irish airlines Aer Lingus, CityJet and Ryanair have their own head offices in Dublin.
Rail
Heuston and Connolly stations are the two main railway stations in Dublin. Operated by Iarnród Éireann, the Dublin Suburban Rail network consists of five railway lines serving the Greater Dublin Area and commuter towns such as Drogheda and Dundalk in County Louth. One of these lines is the electrified Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) line, which runs primarily along the coast from Malahide and Howth southwards as far as Greystones. Commuter rail operates on the other four lines using Irish Rail diesel multiple units. In 2016, passengers journeys for DART and Dublin Suburban lines were nearly 19 million and 11.9 million, respectively (around 64% of all Irish Rail passengers).
The Luas is an electrified light rail system which has been operating since 2004 and carried over 34 million passengers annually (as of 2016). The network consists of two tram lines; the Red Line links the Docklands and city centre with the south-western suburbs, while the Green Line connects the city centre with suburbs to the south of the city.
Economic sectors
As of mid-2017, approximately 874,400 people were employed in the Greater Dublin Area (which includes counties Meath, Kildare and Wicklow). Around 60% of people who are employed in Ireland's financial, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), and professional services sectors are located in this area.
Media
Dublin is home to a number of national newspapers, radio stations, television stations and telephone companies. RTÉ is Ireland's national state broadcaster, and is based in Donnybrook. Virgin Media One, MTV Ireland and Sky News are also based in the city. The headquarters of An Post and telecommunications companies such as Eir, as well as mobile operators Meteor, Vodafone and 3 are all located in the Dublin area. Dublin is also the headquarters of national newspapers such as The Irish Times, Irish Independent and The Herald.
Food and drink
One of Ireland's most widely known alcoholic drinks, Guinness, has been brewed at the St. James's Gate Brewery since 1759. Dublin also profited from the role of the beef industry.
Information and communications technology
A number of IT companies are located in the city, including in the south inner area of Dublin 2, and the adjacent counties. Among these are Amazon, eBay, Dell, Facebook, Zynga, Dropbox, LinkedIn, Indeed, Twitter, Google, EMC, Microsoft, Oracle, PayPal, SAP, Symantec, and Yahoo!. A number of these organisations have premises in the Silicon Docks area of the city.
The area surrounding Ireland's capital city has the largest concentration of large-scale data centre operations in the country, including global operations run by Google, Microsoft and Amazon. Companies involved in the cloud computing sector include Citrix, EMC2, Dropbox, Salesforce and Zendesk.
Financial
In 2017 and 2018 respectively, Dublin was ranked 5th in Europe and 31st globally in the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI). Many of the jobs in Dublin's financial services sector are based at the International Financial Services Centre in the Dublin Docklands area. Also located in Dublin is the Irish Stock Exchange (ISEQ).
Retail
Ireland's largest retail and shopping centres are located in the Dublin area, including Dundrum Town Centre (140,000 square metres, 160 stores) and Blanchardstown Centre (120,000 square metres, 180 stores). Within the city centre, the "prime retail streets" include Henry Street and Grafton Street. A 2013 report, for Ibec and Retail Ireland, indicated that Dublin was the "main national hub of retail activity", accounting for 25% of the country's retail entities, and approximately 50% of national employment in the sector.
Tourism
Several of Ireland's most visited tourist attractions are in the Dublin area, including the Guinness Storehouse (nearly 1.8 million visitors in 2017), Dublin Zoo (1.2m visitors in 2017), and the National Gallery of Ireland (more than 1 million visitors). As of 2016, Dublin attracted over 5.6 million overseas visitors, generating over €1.9 in revenue.
Higher education
Higher education institutions contributed €10.6 billion to the national economy in 2011. This included nearly €1 billion from international students, where 57% of these international students are based in the Dublin region. As a university city, several of the largest universities and colleges are located in the capital, including the largest (University College Dublin – UCD), and one of the oldest (Trinity College Dublin). A 2014 study indicated that the three universities in Dublin (Dublin City University, Trinity College, and UCD) were among the top institutions for economic impact nationally.
