Custom House people

The Custom House was completed in 1791 to serve as the headquarters of the Commissioners of Custom and Excise, responsible for collecting customs duties and excise taxes. In the nineteenth century the building also became the center for the Board of Public Works and the Poor Law Commissioners, and later, for the Local Government Board. The inner structure was burned to the ground by the IRA in 1921; after it was rebuilt it again housed the Commissioners of Custom and Excise and the new Department of Local Government and Public Health, with its associated Office of the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages. For two hundred years the building has served as the focal point of local government in Ireland, and as such has seen an interesting mix of public servants and politicians come and go. Short chapters on fifty of these people are included in this book, giving an insight into Irish social history, as well individual personalities.