This constituency comprised part of the city of Dublin. It included the port and red light district of Dublin and was one of the poorest constituencies in Ireland. 1885–1918: In the borough of Dublin, the Mountjoy and North Dock wards, that part of Rotunda ward not contained in the College Green constituency, those parts of South Dock and Trinity wards lying north of a line drawn along the centre of Great Brunswick Street, the townlands of Ringsend and Irishtown, and that part of the townland of Beggar's Bush bounded on the north and west by the boundary of North Dock and South Dock wards, on the west and south-west by a line drawn along the centres of Grand Canal Street and Shelbourne Road, on the south by a line drawn along the centre of Haig's Avenue, and on the east by Irishtown. 1918–1922: In the County Borough of Dublin, the North Dock Ward, those parts of South Dock and Trinity wards lying north of a line drawn along the centre of Great Brunswick Street, and that part of Mountjoy ward lying south of a line drawn along the centres of Great Britain Street, Summerhill, and Summerhill Parade to the middle of the North Wall Extension of the Midland and Great Western Railway and thence in a south-easterly direction along the centre of the railway to the ward boundary. In 1921, for the elections to the House of Commons of Southern Ireland and 2nd Dail, Dublin was divided into three multi-member constituencies. This constituency became part of Dublin Mid.
Politics
Dublin Harbour was a very heavily Nationalist area. The Irish Parliamentary Party only lost political control of the district following the Easter Rising in 1916. The area was a hotbed of Sinn Féin and Irish Republican Army activity. Local publican Phil Shanahan, who had participated in the Easter Rising, was elected in 1918. The man he defeated, the incumbent UK Member of ParliamentAlfie Byrne, was a formidable politician. Byrne was successful in Dublin and Irish politics for almost half a century. The fact that Shanahan could beat him demonstrates how strongly the constituency was attracted by Sinn Féin's ideas. In common with other Sinn Féiners elected in 1918, Shanahan did not take his seat at Westminster but instead participated in the revolutionary Dáil Éireann.
