Dublin 4#Popular culture

Dublin 4 or its abbreviation, D4, is sometimes used as a pejorative adjective to describe Dublin's upper-middle class based on the perceived characteristics of residents of this area. However, it sometimes also used to refer to the Irish upper middle class in general, regardless of whether or not they live in the D4 area. In this sense the term signifies a set of attitudes said to be in opposition to those held by "the plain people of Ireland" by Irish commentators such as Desmond Fennell.{{cite book|last=Fennell|title=Nice People and Rednecks:Ireland in the 1980s|publisher=Gill & Macmillan|year=1986}} and {{cite book|first=Stephen|last=Howe|title=Ireland and Empire|publisher=Oxford|year=2002|pages=77, 120}}

While the area has, for most of its existence, been seen as well-to-do, the use of the term D4 as an adjective emerged in the 1990s.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/how--dublin-4--turned-into-dublin-forlorn-1854864.html|title=How Dublin 4 turned into Dublin forlorn|first=Kim|last=Bielenberg|work=Sunday Independent|date=8 August 2009|access-date=17 December 2009}} The fictional jock Ross O'Carroll-Kelly was meant as a caricature of this.

The term has been used to describe the aspirational upper middle-class from south Dublin and also used by Fianna Fáil members who like to portray themselves as being on the side of "the plain people of Ireland".{{cite book|author=Siobhán Marie Kilfeather|title=Dublin: A Cultural History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gI8MYY6ASdcC&pg=PA21|year=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-518201-9|pages=21–22}}

Maeve Binchy's book, Dublin 4, contains a series of short stories set in the area.{{cite web|url = https://maevebinchy.com/project/dublin-4/ | website = maevebinchy.com | title = Projects – Dublin 4 | accessdate = 18 August 2023 }}

A change in accent occurred between those born roughly before 1970 and those born in the early 1970s or later.{{cite book|author=Raymond Hickey|title=Dublin English: Evolution and Change|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AmpOAwl3KzcC&pg=PA45|year=2005|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|isbn=90-272-4895-8|page=45}}

In the early 1980s, a group of people in Dublin 4 developed a different accent, partly in rejection of older views of Irishness.{{cite book|author=Raymond Hickey|title=Dublin English: Evolution and Change|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AmpOAwl3KzcC&pg=PA47|year=2005|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|isbn=90-272-4895-8|page=47}} This form of Dublin accent was known as "Dublin 4", "Dartspeak" or later "DORTspeak/Formers Morket" (after the Dublin 4 pronunciation of DART, which runs through the area). It has also been noticed that people who move into the area and parts of south Dublin from outside the county and who would normally speak in their native accent develop the DORT accent as well. The accent quickly became the subject of ridicule.

Two examples of "Dublin 4" being used to refer to alleged wealth:

{{cquote|The area desperately needs the retention of this kind of local community hospital. It covers Dublin 2, 4 and 6 and, because of the writings of a journalist who hails from the west but has chosen to live in Dublin, the connotation Dublin 4 has a very salubrious image which suggests considerable affluence. The reality is that many of the population in the catchment area of this hospital are not affluent.|author=Ruairi Quinn|source=Dáil Éireann Debate, 21 May 1987}}{{Cite web|url=http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0372/D.0372.198705210078.html|title=Adjournment Debate. – Royal City of Dublin Hospital.|date=1987-05-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607091940/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0372/D.0372.198705210078.html|archive-date=7 June 2011}}

{{cquote|The Minister is probably aware that, not far from here, is the mythical place called Dublin 4. In our vision of Dublin 4 we think of Shrewsbury Road, Donnybrook and people who have access to power and money. As Eoghan Harris said, it is almost a state of mind. However, there is another part of Dublin 4, which I know very well, where there is 70 per cent unemployment, drug problems and deprivation. We do not hear much about that part of Dublin 4.|author=John Gormley|source=Dáil Éireann Debate, 28 January 1999[http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0499/D.0499.199901280019.html John Gormley, speaking in Dáil Éireann, 28 January 1999] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925022132/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0499/D.0499.199901280019.html |date=25 September 2012 }}}}

Sometimes the antonym plain people of Ireland or plain people was contrasted with it:

{{cquote|One of the difficulties with modern newspapers is that there is an increasing tendency to portray opinions as facts. This is particularly evident in the Sunday Independent. If one tries to find news in it, apart from the lead story which itself is sometimes not news, one finds a preponderance of articles from self-proclaimed experts who tend to be from middle class backgrounds – dare I say Dublin 4 types, which is a state of mind rather than a geographic location. These articles tend to reflect the attitudes of a particular section of society and regard those attitudes as dominant. There does not appear to be a balance in the attitudes represented by the newspaper. However, the plain people have enough sense to sift out what is good and what is bad. Frequently, the attitudes represented by the newspaper do not reflect the attitudes dominant within the country as a whole, but thankfully, the plain people have enough good sense to resist them.|author=John Dardis|source=Seanad Éireann Debate, 9 February 2005[http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/S/0179/S.0179.200502090004.html Senator John Dardis, speaking in Seanad Éireann, 9 February 2005] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825125646/http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/S/0179/S.0179.200502090004.html |date=25 August 2012 }}}}

Colloquially, Dubliners refer to the area as "Dublin 4" or "D4".{{Cite web |title=D4 accent is, loike, totally over, claims UCD linguist |url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/d4-accent-is-loike-totally-over-claims-ucd-linguist-29654140.html |access-date=2022-07-16 |website=Irish Independent|date=12 October 2013 |first=Breda|last=Heffernan}} The postal district forms the first part of numerous seven digit Eircodes that are unique to every single address in the area. For addressing purposes, it appears in both its original form as Dublin 4 and as the first part of a seven digit postal code as D04 a line below.{{Cite web |title=Eircode Postcodes: What you need to know about Ireland's new postcode system |url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/eircode-postcodes-what-you-need-to-know-about-irelands-new-postcode-system-31371881.html |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=Irish Independent}} For example:  

The Embassy of Switzerland

6 Ailesbury Road

Dublin 4

D04 W205

File:A large home on Clyde Road, Dublin D04.jpg|alt=|An Edwardian-era home on Clyde Road, D4.

File:A scene in Herbert Park, Dublin.jpg|alt=|Herbert Park, Ballsbridge, D4

File:U.S. Embassy Chancery Building in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.jpg|alt=|The US embassy to Ireland is located in D4.

File:Pembroke Road, Dublin D4.jpg|alt=|The decorative frontage of large D4 townhouses

File:A WALK ALONG THE DODDER (Donnybrook to Ballsbridge) (1000151541).jpg|alt=|Apartments near the River Dodder

• List of Dublin postal districts
• List of Eircode routing areas in Ireland
• West Brit

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Category:Culture of Ireland

Category:Places in Dublin (city)

Category:Postal districts of Dublin