The Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on City Quay, Dublin 2, was built between 1861 and 1863 to a Gothic Revival design by John Bourke and blessed by Archbishop Paul Cullen. Long known as the Docker's Church, it served the workers of the nearby port and became a parish church in its own right in 1908. Today it holds regular Mass while a long-running dispute over restoration funds continues between the parish community and the Archdiocese of Dublin.
City Quay itself is reclaimed land, walled in from the Liffey in stages from 1666 and completed under Sir John Rogerson after 1713. By the mid nineteenth century the waterside community wanted its own church, and Fr McCann delivered it between 1861 and 1863 to a design by John Bourke, a prolific architect of Catholic churches and institutions. The bell tower by John Loftus Robinson followed in 1888-1890 at a cost of 900 pounds, and a presbytery was added in 1915. In recent years the church has been at the centre of a public dispute: a 2018 settlement with a neighbouring developer left about 2 million euro for restoration, planning permission was granted in November 2020, but the Archdiocese of Dublin halted the project in 2021 and required the funds to be transferred to diocesan control. Parishioners petitioned and protested in 2023, and in January 2024 the matter was raised with the Charities Regulator. The church remains open for regular Mass.
Known as the Docker's Church, the building served generations of dock workers and seafarers on the south quays of the Liffey. It began as a chapel of ease to St Andrew's, Westland Row, and became a parish church in 1908. The interior includes a mosaic of the Immaculate Heart, Star of the Sea, and a Calvary scene credited to William Pearse, brother of Patrick Pearse.
Constituted in 1908 from Westland Row.
Fragments gathered while researching this church: stories, curiosities, people and dates.
A petition started by parishioner Mary Dolan in June 2023 gathered over 1,000 signatures asking Archbishop Farrell to release about 2 million euro held by the diocese for the approved restoration of the church interior. The petition describes the church as in poor repair and deteriorating. Parishioners also protested outside the Archbishop's residence in August 2023.
Source: Change.org petition
The parish website states that at its formal dedication in 1867 this was only the second church in the world dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The claim comes from the parish itself and was not independently verified.
The church earned its popular name from the dock workers and seafarers of the adjacent quays who formed its congregation for over a century.
The Victorian gates and railings carry the inscription: Pray for the Donor Thomas Patrick Birmingham RIP.
Also known as: The Docker's Church
Mass times
Checked 10 Jul 2026