Dublin Corporation is the former name given to the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin between the twelfth century and 1 January 2002.

Dublin City Hall
formerly the Royal Exchange

Two chamber Corporation

Dublin Corporation first came into being under the Anglo-Normans in Dublin in the late 1200s. For centuries it was a two chamber body, made up of an upper house of Aldermen and a lower house, known as the Sheriffs and Commons, consisting the 48 Sheriff's representatives and 96 representatives of guilds. The upper house was presided over by a mayor, who was elected from and by the Aldermen.

The modern Corporation

The modern Dublin Corporation was restructured by late nineteenth century and twentieth century legislation, with the elected body reduced to a single chamber Dublin City Council, presided over by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, an office first instituted but not filled by King Charles I but reconstituted following the Restoration of the Crown by Charles II.

New name

On 1 January 2002, following a major and controversial reform of local government, the ancient name of Dublin Corporation, known to generations of Dubliners simply as "the Corpo" was abolished, with the nineteenth century name Dublin City Council that previously had been used simply to refer to the assembly of elected councillors, being given for the entire administration.

Headquarters

The Corporation/City Council's headquarters is located in the Civic Offices, in a building often referred to as 'The Bunkers', controversially built on the site of an ancient set of viking remains, Wood Quay. The City Council continues to hold its monthly meetings in the City Hall, an eighteenth century building formerly called the Royal Exchange and which had been taken over by the Corporation in the 1850s.

See Also

• Lord Mayor of Dublin
• Tholsel
• Dublin City Hall
• Mansion House, Dublin
• Dublin Corporation Regalia