Seat of Dail Eireann (House of Representatives) and Seannad Eireann (The Senate), which (together with the President) constitute the Oireachtas (National Parliament), was erected in 1745 from designs by Richard Castle.
It was built in 1745 for James FitzGerald, the Earl of Kildare, who was a descendant of one of the great Anglo Norman families who first invaded Ireland in 1160. He was created the Duke of Leinster in 1766, hence the name of the house. Richard Cassels (1690-1751) was the architect and he designed what was to become the largest mansion in the city.
• The decision of the influential and trend-setting earl to locate his mansion on what were then just open fields, encouraged the migration of the gentry and the wealthy to the surrounding area from the previously traditional fashionable parts of the city. Thus grew the largest Georgian-styled district of Dublin which has remained largely intact to this day.
The public are admitted when the Parliament is not sitting. Advance notice is required.