In the 1930s, Dublin’s city government began implementing various schemes to tackle its extensive inner-city slum problems, but to no avail. Greater progress was achieved some three decades later. In the 1960s, thousands of working-class inhabitants were moved to housing estates on the outskirts of the city. The old tenements were largely destroyed, however little planning went into construction of new housing. In turn, new suburbs acquired a vast population without any provision for public transport, shops, or even employment. For decades, crime and drug abuse became rampant in these suburbs. Later, the ‘Celtic Tiger’, a term designating the economic boom of Ireland in the 1990s, brought some solutions to many of these problems. However, housing shortage was still an issue in Dublin, as the population increased dramatically and real estate prices have sharply increased. Lower- and middle-class families had trouble surviving in the city.

During the 1960s, city authorities began demolishing 18th-century Georgian buildings. Property developers were eager to profit from the lucrative real estate market, so they replaced historical buildings with utilitarian office blocks. Also, Irish nationalists, who dominated local government at the time, wanted to destroy all reminders of Ireland's history as a British colony. The most extreme example of this ideology was when the century-old Nelson's Pillar (built in honour of British Admiral Lord Nelson) was blown up in 1966. The pillar was replaced in 2003 with the 120-m high Dublin Spire, a needle-like metal monument, which was assembled with seven different pieces using the largest crane in the country. Another example was the destruction of the Wood Quay, an historical site of a Viking settlement known as Viking Dublin, which was replaced by Dublin City Council's civic offices.

Fortunately, Dublin remained almost unaffected during the civil conflicts of Northern Ireland between 1969 and the late 1990s,with exception to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974, when 33 people were killed, 26 of whom were in Dublin.

Since the 1980s, property developers have become more aware of the need to preserve Dublin’s architectural heritage. The Temple Bar has been established as the cultural heartland, which boasts an original medieval street and today attracts most of the tourists visiting Dublin.

In the wake of the aforementioned Celtic Tiger phenomenon, Dublin experienced a building boom, especially with construction of new office buildings, including the International Financial Services Centre, situated in a business district which extends for almost a kilometre along the North Quays of the city.