County Dublin

County Dublin (: Contae Bhaile Átha Cliath), or more correctly today the Dublin Region (Réigiúin Átha Cliath), is the area that contains the city of, the and largest city of the  as well as the largest city on the island of Ireland; and the modern counties of ,  and. The is the  for the region. Dublin was one of the oldest of the to be formally structured.

Introduction
Dublin is located on the east coast of Ireland in the of. The area held status until its dissolution as such in, where Section 9 Part 1(a) of the Local Government (Dublin) Act, 1993 stated that as of 1 January 1994 "the county shall cease to exist". At that time, and in response to a European Council report highlighting Ireland as the most centralised country in the, it was decided that a single County Dublin was unmanageable and undemocratic from a perspective. The county was formally abolished and replaced with, , and. The Government was fully aware of the magnitude of the legislation that was being passed, most poignantly noted by  in the  assembly of the 3rd of November 1993, where she declared "The Bill before us today effectively abolishes County Dublin. I am not sure whether Dubliners realise that that is what we are about today, but in effect that is the case".

Currently
At present, many organisations, state agencies and sporting teams continue to operate on a "County Dublin" basis. Subsequently, much confusion exists around the legitimacy of the new counties - though they do have status, the only protected recognition of a county within the. County Dublin is now defined in legislation solely as the "Dublin Region" under the Local Government Act, 1991 (Regional Authorities) (Establishment) Order, 1993, and this is the terminology officially used by the four Dublin administrative councils in press releases concerning the former county area. Separate use of the term , which consists of all of the Dublin Region and the counties of, and  has created additional confusion. The of 2002 recorded the total population of the Dublin Region at 1,122,821, accounting for 28% of the national figure.

The latest "Discovery Series" (Third Edition 2005) 1:50,000 map of the Dublin Region, Sheet 50, shows the boundaries of the city and three surrounding counties of the region. Extremities of the Dublin Region, in the north and south of the region, appear in other sheets of the series, 43 and 56 respectively.

Local government
has existed for centuries, previously as Dublin Corporation, as a, whilst in 1994 was abolished and replaced by three new county councils. Thus in summary the divisions within the Dublin Region are:

Towns and suburbs

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