In Georgian Dublin there were a number of charitable music societies that raised money to alleviate the suffering of the poor and ill.

There was no system of public welfare, nor, until much later, any general policy on the part of the government to alleviate the problem of poverty, which pervaded the city at that time.

[2] A house for this purpose was rented in Fleet Street, fitted up, and opened, with a nurse, a staff of doctors and surgeons, and 23 patients as the "Hospital for Incurables, Dublin" on 23 May 1744.

[3] In the early years of the hospital, the doctors included Francis Le Hunte (from County Wexford, a founder-member of the Royal Dublin Society).

[6] In the 1980s it started to specialise in rehabilitation for the elderly and services for young disabled adults and, at that time, was renamed the "Royal Hospital, Donnybrook".