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A Guide toLeinster HouseSeat of
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Leinster House has two main entrances. The better known entrance is on Kildare Street. Viewed from here, on the left is the National Library with the National Museum on the right.
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The official entrance is the Garden Front - the original main door of the building, where distinguished visitors are received. The Garden Front faces across a broad lawn to Merrion Square, a spacious square of Georgian houses surrounding an enclosed public park. Viewed from the Square, the Natural History Division of the National Museum is to left of Leinster House and the National Gallery to its right.
The original building comprises three storeys over a basement, is rectangular in shape (42 x 22 metres), with a circular bow projecting on the north (Trinity College) end. All the ornamental parts and the Kildare Street front of Leinster House are of Portland stone.
The greater part of the building is of limestone from Ardbraccan, County Meath. There is a handsome semi-circular double flight of steps at the Garden Front, giving access to Leinster lawn.
The designer was the architect Richard Cassels (or Castle) who was born about 1690 in Hesse-Cassel in Germany. His other work in Dublin included Tyrone House in Marlborough Street (now part of the Department of Education) and the Printing House in Trinity College. The design is characteristic of Irish and English architecture of the period.
Visitors to Leinster House enter the main building through the courtyard on Kildare Street. Portraits of two of the leading soldiers and statesmen from the 1916 - 1922 period, Michael Collins and Cathal Brugha, hang on opposite walls. Michael Collins was Minister for Finance in the first Dáil and one of the negotiators of the 1922 Treaty that established the Irish Free State; Cathal Brugha was the Ceann Comhairle of the first Dáil Éireann.
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An original framed copy of the Easter 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic, read out at the GPO by Pádraig Pearse and posted up around Dublin, hangs in the entrance hall. This copy was presented to the Nation by a former President of Ireland, Seán T Ó Ceallaigh. During Easter Week 1916 he was one of the volunteers who undertook to paste up the proclamation in public areas. This copy was preserved by his mother amongst her papers.
Entrance to the Garden Room is through the red marble doorway to the rear (erected to honour Queen Victoria in 1901). This room is the official entrance for distinguished visitors and is adorned with pictures of visiting Heads of State and Government addressing the Houses of the Oireachtas.
The Library
The Seanad Chamber
At the top of the stairs is the anteroom to the Senate Chamber. On the walls are paintings of two leaders of the United Irishmen, Robert Emmet and Theobald Wolfe Tone. Heavily influenced by the ideas of the French Revolution, the United Irishmen was established in 1791 in Belfast and sought independence and a new political structure for Ireland. Robert Emmet is shown in the military uniform of the day, while Theobald Wolfe Tone wears the uniform of a French naval officer. Many regard the Seanad Chamber as the most beautiful room in Leinster House. Originally the ballroom, its proportions are the same as those of the library underneath on the ground floor. The walls are plain, reflecting its use by the Royal Dublin Society as a picture gallery. Tá an forsheomra a ghabhann le Seomra an tSeanaid suite ag barr an staighre. Tá péintéireachtaí ar na ballaí de bheirt cheannaire de chuid na nÉireannach Aontaithe, Robert Emmet agus Theobald Wolfe Tone. Chuaigh Réabhlóid na Fraince i bhfeidhm go mór ar na hÉireannaigh Aontaithe a bunaíodh i mBéal Feirste sa bhliain 1791 chun saoirse agus struchtúr nua polaitíochta a lorg dÉirinn. Taispeántar Robert Emmet faoi éide airm na haimsire sin agus tá éide míleata oifigeach cabhlaigh na Fraince ar Wolfe Tone.Tá cuid mhór daoine den tuairim gurb é an Seanad an seomra is áille dá bhfuil ann i dTeach Laighean. I dtosach báire ba é an bálseomra é agus tá na toisí céanna air atá ar an leabharlann thíos faoi ar leibhéal na talún. Ballaí gan mhaisiú atá ann, rud a léiríonn a fheidhm mar ghailearaí péintéireachtaí in aimsir Chumann Ríoga Bhaile Átha Cliath The Dáil ChamberThe Dáil Chamber was originally the lecture theatre of the Royal Dublin Society and was opened as such in 1897. The room is octagonal in shape and its original seating capacity was 700. Little alteration was needed to adapt it for parliamentary purposes: the floor was raised and the seating capacity reduced. Entrance to the Visitors’ Gallery of Dáil Éireann is via the staircase to the right of the main entrance to the Chamber. Senators may observe Dáil Sessions but must remain behind the railing which separates the Members’ seats on the floor of the House from the circulation and lobby areas. Busts of the 1916 leaders and other historical figures line this area. During votes in the House all doors to the chamber are locked. I dtosach báire ba é Seomra na Dála léachtlann Chumann Ríoga Bhaile Átha Cliath agus osclaíodh an seomra sa cháil sin sa bhliain 1897. Tá déanamh ochtagánach ar an seomra agus ba é 700 an líon suíochán a bhí ann ar dtús. Ní raibh gá le mórán athruithe lena oiriúnú i gcomhair úsáide mar pharlaimint: ardaíodh an t-urlár agus laghdaíodh líon na suíochán.Téann cuairteoirí isteach in Áiléar na gCuairteoirí tríd an staighre ar thaobh na láimhe deise de phríomhdhoras Sheomra na Dála. Tig le Seanadóirí breathnú ar Sheisiúin Dála ach ní mór dóibh fanacht taobh thiar den ráille a scarann suíocháin na gComhaltaí ar urlár an Tí ó na limistéir chúrsaíochta agus vótála. Tá dealbha de cheannairí 1916 agus de dhaoine stairiúla eile le feiceáil sa limistéar seo. Le linn vótálacha sa Teach cuirtear doirse uile an tSeomra faoi ghlas.
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Persons intending to visit Leinster House can arrange with a Member of either House to obtain an admission card. Further information may be obtained by writing to the Superintendent of the Houses, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Further reading: Tithe an Oireachtas Leinster House See also Bibliographical Note. * There is some evidence to suggest that the word "parliament" may have been in use as early as 1234-35, but the earliest known Irish parliament for which there is a definitive record met on 18 June 1264 at Castledermot, County Kildare. Houses
of the Oireachtas | Parliamentary Televising For more detailed information, please contact Public Relations Office, Leinster House, Dublin 2. |
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