Does Rain Affect Footfall in Dublin? What the Data Really Shows

Exploring the Rainfall and Pedestrian Footfall Dashboard on data.gov.ie.

Understanding patterns in public sector data is not always straightforward when working with raw datasets. Visual dashboards provide a more accessible way to explore trends, compare values, and identify changes over time.

On data.gov.ie, dashboards powered by datAdore Insights make it possible to bring datasets together and explore them interactively.

Rainfall × Pedestrian Footfall in Dublin (2015)

How does rain affect footfall in Dublin city centre? Less than you might think.

Dublin gets a lot of rain. It is easy to assume that on wet days, fewer people venture into the city centre, and that on dry days the streets are busier. But what does the data actually show?

Dublin City Council and Met Éireann data from 2015 were brought together to examine the relationship between monthly rainfall and pedestrian footfall across four of Dublin’s busiest streets — Henry Street, Mary Street, Capel Street, and O’Connell Street. The findings are more nuanced than the assumption suggests.

The streets are not equal

Average monthly footfall varies significantly across the four streets. Henry Street leads with around 39.5k, followed by O’Connell Street at 13.3k, Mary Street at 6.1k, and Capel Street at 5.6k.

These differences reflect the function and character of each street — with Henry Street’s retail density driving consistently high activity, while other streets serve different roles within the city centre.

Rain is not the main driver

Rainfall in Dublin follows a clear seasonal pattern, with higher levels in late autumn and winter and lower levels in summer. However, when rainfall is compared with footfall trends, the relationship is weak.

Sharp increases in rainfall do not consistently correspond with drops in pedestrian activity, particularly at the monthly level. This suggests that rain alone is not a primary driver of footfall patterns.

O’Connell Street tells a different story

The most striking pattern in the data is a sharp and sustained decline in O’Connell Street footfall between April and June 2015, dropping significantly below its January baseline before recovering later in the year.

No other street shows a similar pattern over the same period, indicating that this is likely driven by localised factors rather than wider city conditions.

There is no single confirmed cause in the dataset. However, a number of factors during that period could have contributed to the disruption, including:

• the closure of Clery’s department store in June 2015, a major retail anchor on the street
• Luas Cross City works and associated traffic management changes, which affected O’Connell Street and surrounding areas
• other temporary changes to access, transport, or street activity

This highlights how external events can have a visible impact on footfall data, even when they are not directly captured in the dataset itself.

Volatility is street-specific

O’Connell Street also shows significantly higher month-on-month variability than the other streets, with much larger swings in activity throughout the year.

In contrast, Henry Street, Mary Street, and Capel Street remain comparatively stable, suggesting that some streets are more sensitive to disruption and change than others.

What this shows

This dashboard demonstrates the value of combining datasets from different public bodies. By bringing together weather data and pedestrian activity, it becomes possible to test assumptions, identify patterns, and uncover insights that would not be visible when looking at each dataset separately.

Creating dashboards from public sector data

This is a simple example of what can be done with data already published on data.gov.ie.

Public Service Bodies can create similar dashboards using their own datasets — helping users explore data more easily, communicate insights, and support better decision-making.

• Guides on how to create dashboards and make the most of the available tools are available on data.gov.ie.
• Explore the full dashboard

If you need support in bringing datasets together or developing dashboards tailored to specific analytical questions, feel free to get in touch.

Do you have a data impact story or showcase project you’d like to share on data.gov.ie?
Reach out to the Open Data Unit at [email protected].