Loughlinstown House, one of the oldest and largest surviving Georgian houses in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown and of considerable architectural interest. The first building on the grounds of today’s house was a medieval castle, erected in the 13th century by an Anglo-Saxon family named Goodman.

In 1660, the English king Charles II gifted ‘the Castle, Towne and Lands of Laughanstown’ to Sir William Domville (1609 – 1689), who was his Attorney General in Ireland. Sir William built a ‘modern’ house, which in 1752, a visitor described as ‘old and ruinous and ingeniously situated to avoid one of the sweetest prospects’.

In the late 1700s, Loughlinstown House was rebuilt, and the present front of the house dates from that time. The two-storey Georgian house features a seven-bay front with a one-bay breakfront, including a Venetian window above a tripartite rusticated and fanlight doorway. The lands also included a large, enclosed garden, woods and two small lakes.
The estate remained in the hands of the Domville family for three centuries, it was sold in 1963 to an Australian multimillionaire of Irish origin, John Galvin. He in turn sold the estate to Dún Laoghaire Corporation for housing development in 1976, while the Office of Public Works acquired Loughlinstown House and its surrounding parkland.

In 1975, the EEC established a new agency, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), to be based in Ireland. Having considered other sites around the country, following a site visit on 7 May 1976, the Governing Board opted to take up the Irish government’s offer and locate the EU Agency in Loughlinstown House, situated on the outskirts of Dublin. By 1987 the Agency had outgrown Loughlinstown House, so a new main building of 2,300sqm was opened by the then Irish President Mary Robinson in September 1992.

This tour is pre-book only and booking opens 14 September.

Entry through Loughlinstown House main door where a Eurofound staff member will meet you and share information on the role, mission and work of the EU Agency. The tour will commence on the ground floo with a visit to two reception rooms on either side of the entrance. Meander up the sweeping staircase to a meeting room on the top floor.

Come back down the same staircase and head into a small room, with access to the garden.

Then, head back out the main entrance to Loughlinstown House, to the exterior of the building, walk around the newer wing of the offices.

From here, head towards the conference centre, then down to a smaller meeting room at basement level. The tour will end in the foyer of the conference centre.