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Ballymun (Irish:Baile Munna), nicknamed "The Mun", is an area on Dublin's Northside close to Dublin Airport. It has been most infamous in recent decades for the Ballymun flats, which have become a symbol of abject poverty, alienation from the state and social problems in Ireland since the 1970s. WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: , Statistics Province: Leinster County: Dáil Éireann: Dublin Central, Dublin North Central, Dublin North East, Dublin North West, Dublin South Central, Dublin South East European Parliament: Dublin Dialling Code: 01, +353 1 Postal District(s): D1-24, D6W Area: 114. ...
Traffic passing the Independent Bridge at Drumcondra The harbour at Howth The Northside (Taobh Ó Thuaidh in Irish) is the area in Dublin City, Ireland bounded to the south by the River Liffey, to the east by Dublin Bay and to the north and west by the M50 motorway. ...
Dublin Airport (IATA: DUB, ICAO: EIDW), or Aerfort Bhaile Ãtha Cliath in Irish, is operated by the Dublin Airport Authority plc. ...
The Ballymun Flats tower block complex in Ballymun, Dublin is scheduled for demolition. ...
Ballymun had a population of 22,109 at the 2006 Census.
Amenities
Today Ballymun has a wide range of amenities, from green spaces and the public Sillogue Golf Course to a Tesco-owned shopping centre, a range of other shops and pubs and a hotel, to a public sector office development, with many branches of the city government (including a Motor Tax and Driver Licence office) and the Health Service and a very modern public leisure centre.
There are a number of local sports groups, including football club Ballymun Kickhams GAA and Ballymun United Football Club. There is a church in the old village centre, and a number of schools, including an Educate Together primary school.
History and Nature Historically, Ballymun was a larger area than it is now, but quite rural, with a small village centre. Due to what were seen to be undesirable associations, the area has shrunk since the completion of the flats. For instance in the early days of Dublin City University, then called NIHE, Dublin, this institution was referred to as being in Ballymun (part of the "Ballymun Project") whilst today it is referred to and has a postal address in Glasnevin even though it has not changed location; indeed much of the present day Ballymun town centre was comprised of the northern site of Albert Agricultural College, the forerunner of the present-day university, Dublin City University. Streets have also been renamed. For example, Ballymun Avenue was renamed Glasnevin Avenue after a local plebiscite in the 1970s. Dublin City University (DCU) is a university situated between Glasnevin and Whitehall on the Northside of Dublin in Ireland. ...
A National Institute for Higher Education (NIHE) was a category of higher education institution established in Ireland to provide higher level technical education above the standard of the then established Regional Technical College system but at university level. ...
WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 53. ...
Albert College is the oldest building on the campus of Dublin City University and contains the offices of the university president and other executive offices of the university; the building dates from 1851. ...
Despite these slightly negative associations Ballymun is in fact a thriving community[citation needed] with a high standard of living[citation needed]. New housing estates are currently being built which will provide a mixture of private and social housing.
The lines "I see seven towers/But I only see one way out" in the U2 song 'Running to Stand Still' are a reference to the towers in Ballymun. In addition, the lyrics of the U2 song 'Bad' focus on drug use in the Ballymun flats. When Bono, the lead singer of U2, was born in the Rotunda Hospital in 1960 his family lived in No 10 Cedarwood Road, Glasnevin. The landscape of the nascent flats which lay a mile from his home made a marked impression on the young singer. U2 are a rock band from Dublin, Ireland. ...
Running to Stand Still is a song on U2s 1987 album The Joshua Tree. ...
Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known as Bono (IPA pronunciation: ), is the lead singer and principal lyricist of the Irish rock band U2. ...
The Rotunda Hospital is one of the three main maternity hospitals in Dublin City, the others being The Coombe and Holles Street. ...
"The Mun" by Lynn Connolly chronicles Ballymun from the 1960s to present day; unlike most media portrayals of Ballymun, it focuses on the more positive elements of the community.
Ballymun Flats The flats have, to all intents and purposes, defined Ballymun with areas hitherto in Ballymun lobbying successfully for political support to redesignate their homes as part of neighbouring areas. Among the opprobrium heaped on Ballymun, the deployment of the flats has been described by the environmental journalist, Frank McDonald, in his book The Construction of Dublin, as the Irish state's 'worst planning disaster'. There were three types of flats: seven fifteen storey towers; seventeen eight storey blocks; five four storey blocks. The flats were built in the 1960s under the authority of Neil Blaney, the then Fianna Fáil Minister for Local Government. They incorporated the best social housing practice of the time. The first tenants moved in between August 1966 and December 1966. By February 1969, when the National Building Agency's contract for Ballymun ceased and control of Ballymun was handed back to Dublin City Council, there was a total of 3,021 dwellings in the new Ballymun, all of which was social housing under the control of the Irish state through Dublin City Council. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Neil Blaney (October 1, 1922 - November 8, 1995), was a senior Irish politician. ...
Fianna Fáil - The Republican Party (Irish: Fianna Fáil - An Páirtà Poblachtánach), commonly referred to as Fianna Fáil (IPA ; traditionally translated by the party into English as Soldiers of Destiny, though the actual meaning is Soldiers [Fianna] of Ireland[1]), is currently the largest political party...
Dublin City Council (Comhairle Cathrach Bhaile Ãtha Cliath in Irish) refers to two different entities. ...
The tenants primarily came from the most deprived areas of inner city Dublin, places where the depth of poverty could not be conceived of in modern Ireland. They arrived in Ballymun to some of the finest social housing in Europe, having central heating and other rarities of the day in their homes.
However, there was a profound lack of amenities throughout the area - initially the only shop was a van, for example - and, combined with a lack of trees, and estates built in cul de sacs, ghettoisation developed. By the recession of the 1980s, Ballymun was infested with social problems, most especially alcohol and other drug abuse. Although the public image of Ballymun has changed somewhat since the beginning of the Ballymun regeneration project in 1997, the social problems in Ballymun ensure it remains a remarkably different world to even neighbouring Glasnevin.
Regeneration of Ballymun The creation of Ballymun Regeneration Limited as a limited company of Dublin City Council initiated the beginning of the demolition of the Ballymun flats and the emergence of a new town of Ballymun. To date (2006), four of the seven towers; Pearse, Ceannt, Plunkett, McDonagh as well as one eight storey block, and two four storey blocks have been demolished, with the residents usually rehoused in new state of the art housing in Ballymun. The new housing is a mixture of public, private, voluntary and co-operative housing. The new town of Ballymun is due to be completed by 2013. Patrick Pearse Patrick Henry Pearse (known as Pádraig Pearse or by his Irish name Pádraig Anraà Mac Piarais) (November 10, 1879 – May 3, 1916) was a teacher, poet, writer and political activist who led the Irish Easter Rising in 1916. ...
Eamonn Ceannt Éamonn Ceannt (born Edward Thomas Kent (21 September 1881 – 8 May 1916) was an Irish nationalist and rebel. ...
Joseph Mary Plunkett (21 November 1887 – 4 May 1916) was an Irish nationalist, poet and leader of the 1916 Easter Rising. ...
Thomas MacDonagh Thomas MacDonagh (1 February 1878 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish nationalist, poet and a leader of the 1916 Easter Rising. ...
The regeneration project, despite well-publicised questions about accountability and democratic participation, has also delivered many other amenities, including reworked park areas, a major City Council office facility, Health Service facilities, a public leisure centre, a new hotel and renewed shopping areas.
As part of the New Ballymun, a major tree-planting project called Amaptocare has been run, with people sponsoring trees and providing inscription texts which are engraved on plaques near the trees.
 New Ballymun under construction Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 401 pixelsFull resolution (3883 × 1944 pixel, file size: 1. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 401 pixelsFull resolution (3883 × 1944 pixel, file size: 1. ...
Points of Note Ballymun has featured as a generic working class Dublin suburb in films such as Into the West, The Commitments and The Snapper.
External links Coordinates: 53°24′N, 6°17′W Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...
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