DUN LAOGHAIRE

seaport and borough of County Dublin, Ireland, on Dublin Bay, 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Dublin. Tradition has it that King Laoghaire of Tara had a fort there in the 5th century. Formerly a fishing village called Kingstown, it grew into a large, ribbonlike residential town after the construction of an extensive harbour begun in 1816. Dun Laoghaire is on the terminus of the passenger and car-ferry shipping services from Holyhead, Wales; a new car-ferry terminal was completed in 1969. The harbour is much used by yachtsmen, and the town has a number of hotels and boardinghouses. Pop. (1986) 54,715.