Greater Dublin Area

The Greater Dublin Area (GDA) (Irish: Mórcheantar Bhaile Átha Cliath), or simply Greater Dublin is the city of Dublin and its hinterland, with varying definitions as to its extent. The National Transport Authority has defined the Greater Dublin Area as including the counties of Dublin (Dublin City, South Dublin, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown and Fingal), Meath, Kildare, and Wicklow. However, this area does not comprise a formal political unit. The term can also apply more narrowly to the Dublin urban area and nearby suburban towns.

The urban part of Dublin and surrounding areas has been defined by various statutory instruments, mainly those referring to the Garda Síochána and Courts of the Republic of Ireland. However, since 2009, the Garda Division of the Dublin Metropolitan Area no longer overlaps, if it ever did, with the Greater Dublin Area; it is instead co-extensive with the Dublin Region.

The city and five counties were mentioned in the order creating the Dublin Transportation Office, giving functions and representations to the office in the Greater Dublin Area, although not using the term. The office was purely advisory and had no executive powers. The term was also defined in section 3 of the Dublin Transportation Authority Bill, 2008. This bill was never enacted. On 1 December 2009 the DTO was dissolved so this term, if it ever had legal significance, ceased to have relevance as far as the DTO is concerned.

The Garda used the term the Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR) which was formerly the jurisdiction, within the eastern part of Ireland, of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, which was subsequently merged into An Garda Síochána, the national police force of Ireland. This jurisdiction 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.

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