Belfield () is a small enclave, not quite a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

, in

Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown () is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which was disestablished in 1994. It is named after the former ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It is

synonymous A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

with the main campus of

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

. Belfield is close to Donnybrook,

Ballsbridge Ballsbridge () (from historic Ball's Bridge) is an affluent neighbourhood of the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The area is largely situated north and west of a three-arch stone bridge across the River Dodder, on the south side of the ...

Clonskeagh Clonskeagh or Clonskea (; , meaning "meadow of the Crataegus monogyna, Whitethorn"), is a small southern suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The district straddles the River Dodder. Location and access The district is adjacent to ...

, Goatstown,

Stillorgan Stillorgan (, also and previously or ), formerly a village in its own right, is now a suburban area of Dublin in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Stillorgan is located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, and contains many housing estates, shops and oth ...

Booterstown Booterstown () is a coastal suburb of the city of Dublin in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is also a townland and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in the modern county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. It is situated about south of Dublin ...

, Merrion and

Mount Merrion Mount Merrion () is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is roughly 7 kilometres (5 mi) south of Dublin city centre and is situated on and around the hill of the same name. Location and access Mount Merrion is 3 kilometres (2 mi) southw ...

and takes its name from Belfield House and Demesne, one of eight properties bought to form the main campus of University College Dublin. It is adjacent to the R138 road.

History

Belfield was one of the original sites suggested as a possible location for

Dublin Airport Dublin Airport () is an international airport serving Dublin, Ireland. It is operated by DAA (formerly Dublin Airport Authority). The airport is located in Collinstown, north of Dublin, and south of the town of Swords. In 2024, over 34 ...

before Collinstown was chosen. Nowadays, Belfield is synonymous with University College Dublin, being the location of that institution's main 132-hectare campus. University College Dublin (UCD) dates back to its foundation at 86 St. Stephen's Green in 1851 as the

Catholic University of Ireland The Catholic University of Ireland (CUI; ) was a private Catholic Church, Catholic university in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1851 following the Synod of Thurles in 1850, and in response to the Queen's University of Ireland and its assoc ...

founded by

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was previously an Anglican priest and after his conversion became a cardinal. He was an ...

who was its first rector. In 1934, UCD bought Belfield House and from 1949 to 1958 purchased a group of adjoining properties to form a potential campus estate. In 1960, the Government recommended that the college move from the city centre to Belfield. The first buildings to be completed on the new campus were those of the Faculty of Science in 1964. The other faculties moved to Belfield on a phased basis as their new buildings were completed, although as of 2007, parts of a few remain in Dublin city centre. Additionally, the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business is based on the remainder of the Carysfort (former School of Education) campus in

Blackrock BlackRock, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational investment company. Founded in 1988, initially as an enterprise risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager ...

. From the 1970s until his death in 2021, a homeless man, known affectionately as '

Old Man Belfield Michael Byrne, affectionately known as Old Man Belfield, was a homeless man who lived for over 30 years on the campus of University College Dublin (UCD) in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland leading a "fiercely private" hermitic existence, in ...

', lived rough on the campus of UCD and became well known in the area, despite rarely speaking to anyone.

Amenities

The site also includes Belfield office park, with a large, international

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

call centre A call centre ( Commonwealth spelling) or call center ( American spelling; see spelling differences) is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephone ...

, and a sports ground, The Belfield Bowl, at which the UCD soccer and

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

teams both play in the top divisions of their respective leagues. The area is served by the college's numerous media outlets including newspapers, the

College Tribune The ''College Tribune'' is a student newspaper which serves Ireland's largest third level institution, University College Dublin. It was established in 1989 with the assistance of journalist and broadcaster Vincent Browne who was attending the ...

and the University Observer, radio station Belfield FM and television station the College Television Network.

Business

There are several 'office parks' located in and adjacent to Belfield, including Belfield Office Park, Clonskeagh Drive and Beech Hill Office Park, the latter with a gym adjacent. Some of the companies located here include

(until 2008 most

activities were based in HP's Belfield Office Park),

Ericsson (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...

,Jobs at Ericsson Ireland
visited 15 November 2009

Smurfit Kappa Smurfit Westrock plc is an Irish-American company based in Dublin, Ireland that manufactures corrugated and paper-based packaging. Its stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. History The company was establis ...

(head office), and the

Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform The Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation () is a department of the Government of Ireland. It is led by the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digital ...

History

Amenities

Business

References

See also