22 February 1832: Glasnevin (Prospect) Cemetery, Dublin opened its gates on this day. The first internment was of Michael Carey, aged four, of Francis Street. This place of burial was established to allow the Catholic population of the City to have a place to bury their dead without impediment. The old Penal Laws had meant that all bodies had to be interred in Protestant graveyards. 

However, when William Magee, an evangelist and steadfast opponent of Catholic Emancipation, became Archbishop of Dublin, all compromise was abandoned. One particular incident marked a turning point and the start of a huge change for Catholics. In St. Kevin’s Churchyard in September 1823 Dr. Michael Blake, Catholic Archdeacon of the Dublin diocese was about to offer some quiet graveside prayers when a Protestant sexton, who many believed was working on the orders of Archbishop Magee, stopped him. The funeral was that of Arthur D’Arcy a well-known and respected Dublin citizen whose brother would later become Lord Mayor. He had died suddenly in an accident and his funeral attracted a large crowd. This incident, witnessed by many, propelled the issue onto a wider stage...

A committee was formed to carry out the far from simple process of setting up a cemetery and in 1828 two acres of land was secured in Goldenbridge for a fee of £600. The following years proved very successful for the cemetery and today Goldenbridge holds the graves of many historically significant figures. Demand and limited space in Goldenbridge led to the opening of Glasnevin Cemetery in 1832.

Past and Present - Dublin Cemeteries Trust (dctrust.ie)

With the coming of full Catholic Emancipation in 1829 the imperative to establish a graveyard free from religious connotations took hold. When Glasnevin opened it was for the use of every person of regardless of Religion. The establishment of Prospect Cemetery coincided with burial reform and the rise of the 'garden cemetery' movement in Britain and Europe.

Glasnevin Cemetery was consecrated and opened to the public for the first time on 21 February 1832. The first burial, that of eleven-year-old Michael Carey from Francis Street in Dublin, took place on the following day in a section of the cemetery known as Curran's Square.

It now holds the graves of some 1.2 million people including those of many famous Irishmen and women. Amongst those were laid to rest within its walls are Daniel O'Connell, Charles Stewart Parnell, Eamon De Valera, James Larkin, Maud Gonne MacBride, Countess Markievicz, Ann Devlin, Brendan Behan, Michael Collins, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and many victims of the Great Famine.

There is now a full Museum on the site  that tells the story of the establishment of the institution and the stories of some of the famous and indeed infamous people interred within.