Leinster House        

Leinster House is located on Kildare Street, beside the National Museum in the heart of Dublin's city centre.

Leinster House was built in 1745 by Richard Cassels for Lord Kildare, Duke of Leinster. It’s a county house constructed in town, though it was on the edges at the time of its construction. It is a limestone building. The the east or garden front is a happier design being plainer of a warmer material. The projecting northern side of the house is said to be the prototype for the bow fronted White House in Washington.

 Leinster House was originally built by the the Fitzgeralds. The 20^th Earl, James Fitzgerald and 1^st Duke of Leinster. Leinster House remained in the family for seventy years until it was acquired by The Royal Dublin Society, from whom it was bought by the Irish Government in 1925. It is now the seat of both houses of the Irish Parliament, the Dail and the Senate.

Following the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921 and the coming into being of the Irish Free State whose jurisdiction extended over twenty-six of  the counties of  Ireland, the third Dail was elected in June 1922. 

The seat of the Dail and the Seanad since 1922 has been Leinster House.

        Kelly Barry & Amanda Fagan

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