Facts and Figures

Docklands Facts

• The original Jeanie Johnston was built in 1847. As the famine gripped Ireland, the owners carried fleeing Irish emigrants to North America. It made 16 voyages in total, carrying 2,500 Irish emigrants. The fare to Quebec was £3.10.
   
• 3177 vehicles, 6308 pedestrians, 55 equestrians and 223 cattle crossed Butt bridge everyday in 1879.
   
• A downtrodden Leprosy hospice was located on Misery hill, hence its name! It was believed lepers were “the unclean” and would be walked to the hospice on Misery Hill with one man tolling a bell and another carrying a 40 foot pole to keep everyone at a safe distance. Today this is where we get the expression “I wouldn’t touch him with a 40 foot pole!”
   
• The Custom House opened in 1791, the building cost £200,000 to build. In today’s money it would be close to €24 million.
   
• The restored chq building is the last surviving warehouse of the Docklands, this mighty structure hosted a banquet for 4,000 veterans of the Crimean War in 1856.
   
• The IFSC buildings were the first buildings in Ireland to have air conditioning!
   
• In 1911 Dublin’s population of 305,000 recorded a higher death rate than Calcutta.
   
• 300 years ago there were no houses in the Docklands with the exception of the small fishing hamlet of Ringsend. Most of the land was underwater with the occasional watchtower, customs outpost and pilgrimage hospice along the waterfront.
   

Docklands Figures

• The Dublin Docklands area is spread over 520 hectares north and south of the Liffey.
   
• The North Lotts and Grand Canal Dock SDZ Planning Scheme comprises of 66 hectares of the overall Dublin Docklands area.

It is estimated that the SDZ scheme will provide for 2600 residential units and 305,000m2 of commercial floorspace which equates to a residential population of circa 5,800 and circa 23,000 workers.