Leinster House, Ireland

Leinster House ("Teach Laighean" in Irish) is the name of the building housing the Oireachtas, the national parliament of Ireland.

Leinster House, designed by Architect Richard Cassels, was first built in 1745–48 by James, Earl of Kildare. It was located on the unfashionable and isolated south side of the city, far from the main locations of aristocratic residences north of the Liffey. From the late eighteenth century Leinster House (then called Kildare House) was the Earl's official Dublin residence. When the Earl was made Duke of Leinster the house was renamed Leinster house.

In the history of aristocratic residences in Dublin, no other mansion matched Kildare House for its sheer size or status. Its first and second floors were used as the floor model for the White House by its Irish architect, while the house itself was used as a model for the original stone-cut White House exterior.

The 3rd Duke of Leinster sold Leinster House in 1815 to the Royal Dublin Society( the RDS). In the late 1800's, two new wings were added, to house the National Library of Ireland and the National Museum of Ireland. The Natural History Museum was built on the site.

The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 provided for the creation of the Irish Free State and the Provisional Government sought a temporary venue for the meetings of the new Chamber of Deputies Dáil Éireann and the Senate Seanad Éireann.

Plans were made to turn Royal Hospital Kilmainham, an eighteenth century former soldiers' home in extensive parklands, into a full-time Parliament House. But it was still under the control of the British Army, and the new Governor-General of the Irish Free State was due to deliver the Speech from the Throne opening parliament within weeks, it was decided to hire the main RDS Lecture Theatre attached to Leinster House for use in December 1922 as a temporary Dáil chamber. The building was bought outright from the RDS in 1924.

A new Senate or Seanad chamber was created in Duke's old ballroom, while wings from the neighbouring Royal College of Science were taken over as used as Government Buildings.

Opening Times

Tours are normally taken at 10.30am, 11.30am, 2.30pm and 3.30pm from Monday to Friday. The House is in session on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Additional tours are available on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, when the Dáil is in session, at 7.00pm and 8.00pm.

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Ticket Prices

Disabled Facilities

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More Information

Telephone: 00 353 (0) 1 6183000
Email: events@oireachtas.ie

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