Dubliner's Dublin – Ballymun

Not to be confused with Ballymoney, a tiny coastal village in Wexford, annexed by D4 mummies and their offspring every summer. Ballymun is famous for its flats – ill-conceived high-rise towers thrown up as a quick-fix solution to the housing crisis of the 1960s when the city-centre tenements were collapsing. Lack of amenities and poor maintenance over the years forced disillusioned residents to band together to combat the resulting cycle of disadvantage and campaign for improvements. The suburb is now undergoing a multi-billion euro renewal.

History Baile Munna or ‘Munn’s town’ refers to some Anglo-Norman bloke who leased lands in the then Barony of Coolock. Before the 1960s there was really nothing there but farmland. Initially flats were in great demand and prospective residents were interviewed to determine suitability, but poor maintenance quickly led to dissatisfaction: in 1978 alone, 2,425 complaints about the lifts were lodged with the Corpo. There were sporadic rent strikes in the 1970s, and transient tenancy resulted in social and economic instability and an emerging drug culture.

Property When the 3,000-unit Ballymun project went to tender in 1964, the government asked for it to be constructed “as speedily as possible, consistent with a high standard of layout, design and construction and to acceptable costs.” Hmmmm! The original flats were built from prefabricated concrete panels cast in an on-site factory. As part of a massive programme of urban regeneration, the high-rises are now being razed and tenants re-housed in superior new housing. Results are already evident – from 1999 to 2006, house prices rose by 224 per cent nationally and 300 per cent in the Ballymun area.

Schools There are 2,500 pupils attending the eight primary schools in Ballymun and 850 students attending Ballymun Junior and Senior Comprehensive schools. Concerns have been expressed about absenteeism, poor grades and the low rate of progression to third level (in 2004, around 50 per cent of pupils left before finishing the senior cycle). Ballymun Youthreach, created to help unqualified early-school leavers, is located in the Virgin Mary Boys National School. Scoil an tSeachtar Laoch, one of the few gaelscoileanna in a working-class area, was established in 1979.

Hospitals The nearest is the ‘Bons’ – the Bon Secours in Glasnevin – a private, acute-care facility comprising 199 beds, four major and two minor operating theatres, an endoscopy suite and a range of ancillary diagnostic, treatment and support services. The hospital treats more than 30,000 patients a year across a wide range of medical and surgical specialties.

Restaurants Rueben’s Café Bar in the Days Hotel Dublin Airport serves standard pub grub at decent prices – fine for the weary traveller but not a very exciting option for local residents. The Ballymun Plaza had a couple of good options, but the hotel is now “closed until further notice.” There are plans for more restaurants as part of the overall redevelopment.

Neighbours Bono lived in Cedarwood Road in the shadow of the flats. “I see seven towers,” he wrote in Running to Stand Still. “But I only see one way out.” He hung out with local boys Gavin Friday and Guggi, who once squatted in the flats with his brother. Ballymun-born Oscar winner Glen Hansard left school at 13 to go busking on Grafton Street – he headed back to film The Commitments though. Writer MJ Hyland had a troubled childhood in the flats – parts of her Booker-nominated Carry me Down are set there. Patricia Scanlan worked in Ballymun Library and Deirdre Purcell’s family once lived here too. 

Bars and Pubs There is local opposition to the proposed inclusion of two pubs in the redeveloped Ballymun Centre – drug and alcohol problems are widespread in the area. The Towers Pub is located beside the shabby Ballymun Shopping Centre. The nearby Penthouse closed in June 2006. The Slipper Pub on Ballymun Road is technically in Glasnevin and its proximity to DCU means it attracts a student crowd. Locals mainly drink in Santry and Finglas.

Entertainment The Axis Arts Centre (opened 2001) has a theatre, dance studio, gallery, an arts and crafts workroom, music rehearsal rooms, a recording studio, a conference centre, office spaces, a crèche, café and bar. For RTE’s Joy in the Hood in 2005, Des Bishop ran a series of comedy workshops in Ballymun. Three local participants subsequently set up the House of Fun club in the Axis.

Transport Ballymun is served by bus routes 13, 13a, 17a, 220, 4 and 40n, and there are plans to add more. In 2013, Ballymun will have an underground stop on the Metro North line – currently under construction. The journey time will be three minutes to the airport and 15 minutes to the city centre, which should make the suburb an attractive location for frequent flyers.

Best-kept Secret Breaking ground is responsible for some of the most diverse and challenging public art projects ever attempted here. Projects range from permanent bronze works like Andrew Clancy’s ‘Cathode/Anode,’ located outside the main civic building, to large-scale temporary projects such as Seamus Nolan’s Hotel Ballymun and swimming pool art gallery. All are innovative, impressive and well worth a visit.

Sporting Facilities Local sports clubs include Ballymun Kickhams GAA and Ballymun United Football Club. In 1997, Kickhams unveiled new facilities, including a floodlit artificial pitch. A state-of-the-art, €20 million swimming and leisure centre opened in 2005 with two terrific pools and full gym facilities. Ballymun Equestrian Centre is in nearby Meakstown.

Green Space Coultry park, which opened in December 2005 at a cost of €4 million, includes three playgrounds, a grass football pitch, a five-a-side all-weather pitch, jogging tracks and a performance space. The more modest Shangan Park is a pedestrian through-route surrounded by play facilities, a basketball court and imposing bronze sculptures of giant ants crafted by locals. Proposed drainage of the football pitches in Poppintree Park, a perennial problem, will be popular. There is also Balcurris Park (sports and play facilities) and Whiteacre Park.

Politicians The flats were built in the 1960s under the authority of Neil Blaney, then Fianna Fáil Minister for Local Government. The local TDs are Noel Ahern (FF), Roisin Shortall (Lab) and Pat Carey (FF). In 2006, Ballymun Independent Councillor Vincent Jackson was appointed Lord Mayor of Dublin.

The Bottom Line Regeneration. Regeneration. Regeneration. It’s all about rectifying the planning mistakes of the past and turning Ballymun into a successful, self-sustaining community of 30,000 people (all working in Ikea?) by 2013. That’s why six of the seven towers – immortalised in U2’s Running to Stand Still – have been demolished and residents re-housed. Although it’s no longer the graffiti-ridden nightmare synonymous with crime and drugs that it became in the 1980s, Ballymun is not yet the utopian vision it is touted to become. Still, it’s close to the airport.

Comments

[Kivo!]

Went to the Ballymun Comp 1972 - 1979, great times. I still pass the place when I return home. The senior comp is not looking too good. Is it closed?

[weer]

ive been in the flats loads of times.