The essential information for any visitor is divided into

• Police & General Emergency
• Helplines & Agencies
• Health & Hospitals
• Religion & Social
• Sports

Be sure to also follow the topics in the left hand sidebar. If you cannot find information you require, please contact us and we will do our best to answer you. Note that the information given in these pages is given for general guidance purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice. Where applicable, this site will always link to a definitive authority for any important information.

Police & General Emergency
In Ireland in the case of an emergency, call 999 or the European Standard 112 and ask for the emergency service you require - Fire, Garda, Ambulance, Irish Marine Rescue Service, Mountain and Cave Rescue.

The Irish Police Force is an unarmed force known as the Garda Síochána, or just Garda, which translates from the Irish as Guardians of the Peace. For details of services, offices and further information, see the Garda website (www.garda.ie).

Helplines & Agencies
Garda confidential line - freephone 1800 666 111
Samaritans (872 7700)
Childline (1800 666 666)
Parentline (873 3500)
Missing Persons Helpline (1800 616 617)
Poisons Information Service (837 9964)
Drugs Advisory and Treatment Centre (677 1122)
Victim Support, 29 Dame Street, Dublin 2. (679 8673), 24-Hour National Helpline (054 76222)

Health & Hospitals
Local Dentist, Optician and Pharmacy services are plentiful and listed in the telephone directory or Golden Pages. European citizens avail of "free" health cover in hospitals for emergency purposes but should carry with them the E111 form available from their local health authority. Note that due to serious underfunding of the Irish health system you can expect a considerable wait at an emergency room of many hours, even for serious cases. An up-to-date listing of Dublin hospitals is available on the Irish Emergency Ambulance Service Resource site (ambulance.eire.org/Hospitals/Index.htm). Here are just some, those with 24 hour emergency:

• Beaumont Hospital (www.beaumont.ie)
  24 Hour Emergency (Northside)
  Beaumont Road, Dublin 9. Phone 809 2714
  Bus routes 27B, 51A
• Adelaide & Meath Hospital, Tallaght (www.amnch.ie)
  24 Hour Emergency (Southside)
  Hospital Phone 414 2000
  Out Patients Appointments 414 3000
  Accident & Emergency 414 3500
  Bus routes: Tallaght 201, 202; City 49, 49A, 50, 54, 56A, 65, 65B, 77, 77A; Other 75, 76
• Rotunda Hospital (www.rotunda.ie)
  24 Hour Emergency Childbirth
  Parnell Street, Dublin 1. Phone 873 0700
  Bus routes 11, 19, 19A, and other cross city buses
• The Coombe Hospital (www.coombe.ie)
  24 Hour Emergency Childbirth
  Dolphin's Barn Street, Dublin 8. Phone 453 7561
  Bus routes 50, 56A, 77, 77A, 150

Religion & Social
Ireland remains a predominantly Catholic country in religious and social terms, though a rapid movement away from practicing traditional catholicism has been evident in the last decade or so. Visitors may be surprised to discover that only in recent years have divorce and contraception been legalised in Ireland and the the thorny issue of abortion has been tackled through constitutional referenda by successive governments, though the issue remains unsatisfactorily resolved.

Since the advent of economic prosperity, religious engagement has declined and church-going numbers are extremely small and generally confined to the elder members of the population. Increasing immigration has also seen a growth in faiths of other denominations, though they still remain a tiny minority.

For information on places of worship in Dublin see
http://www.dublinchurches.com

Sports
The national sports in Ireland are football (Irish football where the hands are used, not soccer) and hurling (which uses wooden sticks or hurleys and a small leather ball called a sliotar). These sports are organised nationally in leagues at club and county level by the Gaelic Athletic Association or GAA (www.gaa.ie). These sports are extremely popular and if visiting Dublin, it is well recommended to take in a game in the excellent Croke Park stadium, if you can find a ticket. Apart from GAA, golf is very popular with excellent facilites countrywide, horse racing is of course a favourite and the ubiquitous soccer is ever popular.