Of all Dublin postal districts, Dublin 4 (D4) is probably the most famous outside the city, due in no small part to it being the location of the national broadcaster RTÉ. The RDS and Lansdowne Road stadium are also located in Dublin 4 where many events and concerts are held, adding to awareness of the area. Its residents are simultaneously stereotyped as wealthy conservatives but also as liberal-minded progressives, as an Irish pastiche of the British 'stiff upper lip' but also as more akin to the American moneyed suburbanite. This is partly due to a number of fee-paying private secondary schools and Ireland's largest University, University College Dublin being located there. Many of these institutions are famed for the popularity of rugby - considered a mainly upper-middle class sport. Many foreign embassies are located in D4, due to the prevalence of large Georgian, Edwardian and Victorian buildings.

D4 pronunciation renders words such as 'alright' as 'awlroysh', 'car' as 'core' and 'phone' as 'phewn'. This pattern of speech is known colloquially as "Dortspeak", a reference to the pronunciation of the word 'DART'. It should be noted that the accent is not limited to D4, and is spoken in all of the more affluent areas of Dublin and the surrounding counties, primarily by young people.

The Sunday Tribune features a column written by Paul Howard under the byline Ross O'Carroll-Kelly. This describes a fictional character who personifies the D4 stereotype.