Sheriff Street (), known by locals as "Sheriffer" or "The Street", is a street in the north inner city of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, lying between

East Wall East Wall () is an inner city area of the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. Built on reclaimed ground in the 1820s, the area is also 30 minutes walk from Dublin's main thoroughfare, O'Connell Street. Location East Wall is bounded by West Road to t ...

and North Wall and often considered to be part of the North Wall area. It is divided into Sheriff Street Lower (west end) and Sheriff Street Upper (east end).

History

It is one of a group of streets named after civic offices and concepts:

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Street,

Guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

Street,

Harbourmaster A harbourmaster (or harbormaster, see spelling differences) is an official responsible for enforcing the regulations of a particular harbour or port, in order to ensure the safety of navigation, the security of the harbour and the correct operat ...

Place and

Commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons ...

Street are all nearby. The Sheriff Street area might be defined as Upper and Lower Sheriff Street, Mayor Street, Guild Street, Commons Street, Oriel Street, Seville Place, Crinan Strand and Mariner's Port. One of the most visible buildings is St. Laurence O'Toole's Roman Catholic church, which was built in the 1840s and officially opened in 1853, and is accessible via Seville Place. Traditionally, work on Dublin's docks provided employment for local men, but the arrival of

containerization Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers and ISO containers). Containerization is also referred as "Container Stuffing" or "Container Loading", which is the pro ...

led to mass unemployment in the late 1980s. Sheriff Street has a reputation as a run-down area with a high crime rate.'You keep your mouth shut and your head down'
Rosín Ingle,

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

, 24 July 2010 the area was for many years notable for the Sheriff Street flats which consisted of St Laurence's Mansions, St Bridget's Gardens and Phil Shanahan House. Issues with poverty and crime peaked during the heroin epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s. In the late 1990s, the flats were demolished and the area underwent

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification ...

. Many residents of the flats were housed nearby whilst others left the area. Many of the now gentrified buildings, constructed on the former site of the flats, are accessible on Mayor Street. Lower Sheriff Street remains a working class area consisting of houses. Noctors's Pub is a longstanding business in the area.

In the media

In 1973, RTÉ Radio 1 producer,

Seán Mac Réamoinn __NOTOC__ Seán Mac Réamoinn (27 November 1921 – 17 January 2007) was an Irish people, Irish journalist and broadcaster. He took a deep interest in Irish culture and language and religious affairs. Mac Réamoinn was born in Birmingham, the thi ...

set out to capture life in the North Wall and Sheriff Street area of the city in a radio documentary, ''Inner City Island'', looking to the past, present and future, which aired on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 ( ga, RTÉ Raidió 1) is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for th ...

on 17 March 2009. Parts of the film

In The Name Of The Father IN, In or in may refer to: Places * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Indepen ...

were shot in Sheriff Street in the early 1990s, as well as the film The Commitments.

Notable people

Luke Kelly Luke Kelly (17 November 1940 – 30 January 1984) was an Irish singer, folk musician and actor from Dublin, Ireland. Born into a working-class household in Dublin city, Kelly moved to England in his late teens and by his early 20s had become i ...

of the band

The Dubliners The Dubliners were an Folk music of Ireland, Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personn ...

was born in Lattimore Cottages, 1 Sheriff Street. His place of birth has since been demolished. *

Stephen Gately Stephen Patrick David Gately (17 March 197610 October 2009) was an Irish singer, who, with Ronan Keating, was co-lead singer of the pop group Boyzone; all of Boyzone's studio albums during Gately's lifetime hit number one in the United Kingdo ...

Boyzone Boyzone were an Irish boy band, created in 1993 by talent manager Louis Walsh. Before even recording any material, Boyzone made an appearance on RTÉ's '' The Late Late Show''. Their most successful line-up was composed of Keith Duffy, Steph ...

Jim Sheridan Jim Sheridan (born 6 February 1949) is an Irish playwright and filmmaker. Between 1989 and 1993, Sheridan directed two critically acclaimed films set in Ireland, ''My Left Foot'' and ''In the Name of the Father'', and later directed the film ...

References

{{Dublin residential areas Dublin Docklands Streets in Dublin (city)