View source for Ballymun

{{Short description|Large northside suburb of Dublin, Ireland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name                     = Ballymun
| image_skyline            = Days Hotel, Ballymun - geograph.org.uk - 518821.jpg
| image_caption            = A view of the regenerated Ballymun town centre as of 2007
| native_name              = {{lang|ga|Baile Munna}}
| native_name_lang         = ga
| settlement_type          = Suburb
| pushpin_map              = Dublin
| coordinates              = {{coord|53|23|51|N|06|16|03|W|region:IE|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type         = Country
| subdivision_name         = Ireland
| subdivision_type1        = [[Provinces of Ireland|Province]]
| subdivision_name1        = [[Leinster]]
| subdivision_type2        = [[NUTS statistical regions of Ireland|Region]]
| subdivision_name2        = [[Eastern and Midland Region|Eastern and Midland]]
| subdivision_type3        = Local government area
| subdivision_name3        = [[Dublin]]
| subdivision_type4        = Local authority
| subdivision_name4        = [[Dublin City Council]]
| established_date         = {{start date and age|df=yes|1966|5}}
| founder                  = [[Dublin City Council]], formerly known as [[Dublin Corporation]]
| elevation_m              = 65
| population_as_of         = 2022
| population_density_km2   = 
| population_footnotes     = <ref name="cso2022">{{cite web|title=Census 2022 - F1008 Population by Electoral Divisions in County Dublin, by Birthplace|work=Central Statistics Office Census 2022 Reports |publisher=[[Central Statistics Office (Ireland)|Central Statistics Office Ireland]] |date=August 2023 |url=https://data.cso.ie/table/F1008 |access-date=9 September 2023 }}</ref>
| population_blank1_title  = Electoral division
| population_blank1        = 22321
| timezone1                = WEST
| utc_offset1              = 0
| timezone1_DST            = WEST
| utc_offset1_DST          = +1
| postal_code_type         = Eircode
| postal_code              = D09, D11
| postal2_code_type        = Postal Sorting Office
| area_code_type           = Dialing Code
| area_code                = +353(0)1
| geocode                  = {{iem4ibx|O142401}}
| iso_code                 = IE-D
| registration_plate       = D (Dublin Region)
| website                  = {{URL|dublincity.ie}} <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
}}

'''Ballymun''' ({{Irish place name|Baile Munna}})<ref name="logainm">{{cite web |url = https://www.logainm.ie/ga/1165461 | publisher = Placenames Database of Ireland | website = logainm.ie |url-status=live | title = Baile Munna / Ballymun | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20250903053907/https://www.logainm.ie/ga/1165461 | archivedate = 3 September 2025 | language = ga }}</ref> is a suburb of [[Dublin]], [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]], at the northern edge of the city's [[Northside (Dublin)|Northside]]. The population was 22,321 at the 2022 census.<ref name="cso2022"/> Ballymun is close to [[Dublin Airport]] and borders the suburbs of [[Finglas]], [[Glasnevin]] and [[Santry]].

==Geography==
[[File:Welcome to Ballymun bilingual sign (2019).jpg|thumb|upright|Welcome to Ballymun bilingual sign]]
Ballymun lies on the plains of southern Fingal (the historic area, rather than the modern county), sloping from northwest to southeast, from the catchment of the [[Santry River]] through that of the Wad River. The Santry River rises in Harristown and Dubber, northwest of Ballymun, and crosses and drains the northern parts of the district. The Wad is the area's main watershed, with several branches around [[Poppintree]]; it flows southeast, eventually reaching the estuary of the [[River Tolka]] at [[Clontarf, Dublin|Clontarf]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Dublin, 2013|last=Doyle|first=Joseph W.|publisher=Ten Dozen Waters|year=2013|edition=8th}}</ref>

Ballymun has several sub-districts, such as [[Sillogue]], Coultry, Shangan and Poppintree. It neighbours [[Finglas]], [[Glasnevin]] and [[Santry]].

==Name==
The name Ballymun may derive from {{lang|ga|Baile Muin}}, meaning the 'town of the shrubland', in reference to forest which previously covered the area.{{fact|date=November 2025}} The [[Placenames Database of Ireland]], however, states that the original meaning of the second element, ''Munna'', is "uncertain", noting that [[John O'Donovan (scholar)|John O'Donovan]]'s placenames surveys of the mid-19th century indicate that it may refer to a "family name".<ref name="logainm"/> [[Risteard Ó Foghludha]], who published a dictionary of Irish placenames in the early 20th century, indicated that the name may be derived from ''Bealach Munna'' ('the way of Munna', with Munna potentially a "saint's name").<ref name="logainm"/>

==History==
===Early history===
Evidence of ancient settlement in the Ballymun area includes a number of [[ringfort]], [[burnt mound]] and [[enclosure (archaeology)|enclosure]] sites in the [[townland]]s of Ballymun, Balcurris and Jamestown.<ref>{{citation | url = https://consult.fingal.ie/system/files/materials/2018/App%203%20Recorded%20Monuments.pdf | publisher = Fingal County Council | website = fingal.ie | title = Fingal Development Plan 2017-2023 {{!}} Appendix 3: Recorded Monuments | accessdate = 19 November 2025 }}</ref><ref name="rmp">{{cite web|url = https://heritagedata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=0c9eb9575b544081b0d296436d8f60f8&query=18a4b61b268-layer-9%2CSMRS%2CDU014-119---- | title = NMS mapping data - DU014-119---- | via = heritagedata.maps.arcgis.com | quote = DU014-119---- : Burnt mound : Ballymun | accessdate = 19 November 2025 }}</ref>

In the 1300s, the lands at Ballymun were controlled by the [[Baron Skryne]], [[County Meath]]. Richard Stanyhurst was granted 180 acres in the area in 1473 upon his marriage to Agneta of the Barons of Scyrne family.{{fact|date=November 2025}}

===Early modern period===
The [[Burnell family]] held the lands of Ballymun and [[Balgriffin]] until 1534, when John Burnell was executed for supporting the rebellion of [[Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare|Silken Thomas]]. The lands then passed to the Bathe family of [[Drumcondra, Dublin|Drumcondra]]. By 1615, Robert Barnwell of Dunbro held the lands of Ballymun, and by 1641 there were just 2 or 3 cottages and a single thatched house in the area. The population in 1659 was 10 people, 4 born in England, and 6 Irish. In 1662, just 3 residents paid a hearth tax in the area.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Wrenn |first=Jimmy |title=The Villages of Dublin |publisher=Tomar Publishing Enterprises |year=1982 |location=Dublin |pages=8–9 |language=en}}</ref>

In the early 1700s, the tower house at Ballymun was constructed as a mill, which was subsequently taken over by an English educational society in 1744 to found a girls [[Irish Charter Schools|Charter School]]. It was later converted to a boys school, before closing in 1825. The building still stands and is today called Santry Lodge. Due to the dense woodland and sparse population, the area was generally regarded as dangerous in the early 1700s, with numerous highwaymen operating on the Drogheda Road. In 1829, the ''[[Freeman's Journal]]'' noted that Ballymun was a popular place for [[duel]]s. The area known as Stormanstown is named after Lord Stormingston who was granted land in Ballymun by Henry VIII, with the original Stormanstown House which was built in the early 18th century. This tiled mansion was demolished in 1823, and another house of the same name replaced it. This house was used by the [[Albert College (Dublin)|Albert Agricultural College]] as offices in the 20th century until it was demolished in 1970. Another house called Stormanstown on the corner of Glasnevin Avenue and Ballymun Road was the former residence of [[Brian O'Higgins]]. It too was demolished in the 1970s.<ref name=":0" />

===Public housing for Dublin===
By the 1960s, Dublin's housing stock was not only under pressure from a rising population but was also poorly maintained. House collapses in Bolton Street and Fenian Street in 1963 led to the death of four people, forcing Dublin Corporation to adopt 'emergency measures' to deal with the crisis.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://holinshedrevisited.wordpress.com/2016/05/27/i-personally-dont-want-to-see-another-ballymun-again-the-lessons-of-urban-planning-and-regeneration/|title='I personally don't want to see another Ballymun again': the lessons of urban planning and regeneration|date=27 May 2016|work=Holinshed revisited|access-date=20 November 2017|language=en-US}}</ref> In 1964, in a response to this housing crisis in inner city areas of the capital, plans were made to build high-rise flat complexes; construction started in 1966 and were completed by the following year. The seven 15-storey towers were named after Irish Republican revolutionaries, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the [[Easter Rising|1916 Easter Rising]]. The flat complexes consisted of five 8-storey "districts" (Balbutcher, Balcurris, Coultry, Shangan and Sillogue) and three 4-storey "districts," two of which were part of Shangan and Sillogue, the third being located in Sandyhill. The Poppintree area of Ballymun was constructed in the late 1970s.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

=== Original development ===
{{main|Ballymun Flats}}
[[Image:ballymun tower 2007.jpg|thumb|upright| A former Ballymun Tower]]
At the time of its construction, Ballymun was a sought-after location and prospective tenants had to pass an interview to get housing there.  There were three types of apartment building: seven "fifteen-storey" towers (which actually had 16 storeys plus plant rooms above), nineteen eight-storey blocks and ten four-storey blocks. The flats were built in the 1960s on contracts from the National Building Agency under the authority of [[Neil Blaney]], the {{lang|ga|[[Fianna Fáil]]|italic=no}} Minister for Local Government.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McDonald |first=Frank |title=Saving the city&thinsp;: how to halt the destruction of Dublin |date=1989 |publisher=Tomar Pub |isbn=1-871793-03-3 |location=Dublin |pages=73 |oclc=21019180 }}</ref>

Later commentators described the development of the flats and the district as problematic, with the environmental journalist Frank McDonald, in his book ''The Construction of Dublin'', calling it the Irish state's "worst planning disaster", but the issues were not with the apartment buildings as such but the failure to integrate construction of accommodation with provision of services, problematic maintenance, notably of the lifts, the lack of social mix, and the abrupt move of tightly knit inner-city community families to an isolated area on the very edge of the city.  Dublin's City Architect, Ali Grehan, after working as a lead architect and designer with the Ballymun regeneration project, commented that the concept of the area, developed from green fields, and its new (for Ireland) types of accommodation were a "really great idea" but that the project was "doomed to fall into decline" due to poor planning and central government policies. She especially highlighted the scale of the development, its purely public housing nature, and its location — a "constructed around a roundabout ... a dead end". She also noted that the concept envisaged the shopping centre being available from the start, but delayed for years, and the issues with lift and centralised heating system (also a new idea for Ireland) maintenance.<ref name="Chief Architect Grehan on Ballymun">{{cite news |last1=Bodkin |first1=Peter |title=This is everything that went wrong with Ballymun |url=https://www.thejournal.ie/ballymun-flats-2-1972131-Mar2015/ |access-date=10 March 2021 |work=Journal.ie |publisher=Journal Media Ltd. |date=4 March 2015}}</ref>

The corporation had more gradual plans for development in multiple locations, and according to geographer Joe Brady of [[University College Dublin]], [[Dublin Corporation]] were sceptical about the Ballymun scheme but given the weakness of Irish local government and especially its funding, had little choice but to work with the proposal from national government:
{{blockquote|They were made an offer by... Blaney which they couldn't refuse. He offered to build them 2,500 housing units at a time when their own housing development programme had to be ramped up and when you had the additional misfortune of the collapse of the tenement blocks in Fenian Street which meant that Dublin Corporation was bounced into dealing with all of its condemned houses at once... They would have taken anything from anybody at that point.<ref>{{cite web|title=Housing in Dublin|website=The History Show|publisher=RTÉ|access-date=25 April 2017|format=podcast|date=25 October 2015|url=http://www.rte.ie/radio1/the-history-show/programmes/2015/1025/736808-the-history-show-sunday-25-october-2015/}}</ref>}}

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 to [[Dublin Corporation]], there was a total of 3,021 dwellings, fully comprising publicly owned social housing.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

===Social challenges, community activity===
Some social problems occurred in the early years, as families which had grown up in dense city terraces close to Dublin's retail core, found themselves at the edge of the city, with few amenities beyond a small and expensive travelling "van shop".  Over time, Ballymun became notorious for a number of social problems, such as drug abuse and unemployment, and was impacted by negative media coverage of the area.  At the same time, a wide range of local community organisations emerged, for particular areas and towers, and for purposes such as small enterprise support, anti-drugs campaigning and community project support.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

The current Ballymun district is not substantially in the townland historically called "Ballymun" — instead, it occupies several nearby [[townland]]s, the most significant of which is Stormanstown. Due to what were seen to be undesirable associations, some say{{who|date=April 2017}} that the area has shrunk since the completion of the tower blocks. For instance, in the early days of [[Dublin City University]] (DCU), then called [[National Institute for Higher Education|NIHE, Dublin]], this institution was sometimes referred to as being in Ballymun (part of the "Ballymun Project"){{citation needed|date=April 2017}}, or sometimes in Whitehall, while 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 central Ballymun lies on lands once in the northern reaches of the [[Albert Agricultural College]] estate, the forerunner of the present-day DCU.  Streets have also been renamed — for example, Ballymun Avenue (which was previously Collins Avenue Extension) was renamed Glasnevin Avenue after a local plebiscite in the 1970s.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

The city architect commented in 2015 that the "killer blow" for Ballymun was the offering of a tenant-purchase scheme in 1985, which gave good terms for local authority tenants to buy out their accommodation, but only if they had a house, not a flat, which led to many committed community members moving from Ballymun to be able to avail of the offer.  This led to a "cycle of decline" and ultimately the need for a regeneration.<ref name="Chief Architect Grehan on Ballymun" />

===Regeneration===
[[File:IMG Ballymun1452.jpg|thumb|left|New Ballymun under construction]]
The government and Dublin City Council agreed an ambitious regeneration plan for Ballymun, with a budget exceeding €440 million. The creation of Ballymun Regeneration Limited as a limited company controlled by Dublin City Council initiated the main part of the project, beginning of the demolition of the Ballymun flats, and planned to conclude with the emergence of a "new town" of Ballymun. {{As of|2008}}, six of the seven towers ([[Patrick Pearse|Pearse]], [[Éamonn Ceannt|Ceannt]], [[Seán Mac Diarmada|McDermott]], [[Thomas McDonagh|McDonagh]], [[James Connolly|Connolly]], and [[Tom Clarke (Irish republican)|Clarke]]) as well as three eight-storey blocks and seven four-storey blocks had been demolished by DSM, with the residents generally 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 residential aspects of the "new Ballymun" were largely completed by 2013.  Several films and documentary TV programmes were produced during the regeneration period.

====Positive aspects====
The regeneration delivered the expected new housing, and a number of other amenities, including reworked park areas, a Dublin City Council office facility, health service facilities, a public leisure centre, the Axis arts centre, student accommodation, a new hotel, and some renewed retail facilities.{{fact|date=November 2025}}

====Criticisms====
During the planning and delivery process, the regeneration project attracted well-publicised questions about accountability and democratic participation.  During it, most of the large number of community organisations closed.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chinneide |first=Brid Higgins Ni |title=Community groups' future at risk - report |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/community-groups-future-at-risk-report-1.950524 |access-date=2021-04-22 |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |language=en }}</ref> The regeneration saw the loss of many shops, including the emptying of the only shopping centre, Ballymun Town Centre. This meant the 18,000 residents had to travel to other districts for major grocery, and virtually all non-grocery, shopping. The plan for a replacement centre failed, and as of 2021, there is no central shopping facility.<ref name="No shops">{{citation |url = https://www.dublininquirer.com/in-ballymun-socks-are-scarce-these-days/ | place = Dublin | work = The Dublin Inquirer | date = 31 May 2016 | title = In Ballymun socks are scarce these days}}</ref>  The shopping centre was eventually demolished in 2020.<ref name="BMunSC_demol">{{cite news |last1=Kelly |first1=Olivia |title=Work to level 50-year-old Ballymun shopping centre starts |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/consumer/work-to-level-50-year-old-ballymun-shopping-centre-starts-1.4284935 |access-date=9 March 2021 |work=Irish Times |date=22 June 2020}}</ref>

====Arts during the regeneration====
During the regeneration, an organisation named Breaking Ground was set up as a "percent for art" scheme. This organisation commissioned a range of projects, including sculptures, and two headline projects, Hotel Ballymun and amaptocare.{{fact|date=November 2025}}

In 2007, a floor of the by-then vacant Thomas Clarke Tower was temporarily transformed into a hotel as part of an art project; the project ran for a month and was heavily booked, with a waiting list.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/art-project-s-guests-check-in-on-15th-floor-1.1293863?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fnews%2Fart-project-s-guests-check-in-on-15th-floor-1.1293863|title=Art project's guests check in on 15th floor|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|first=Róisín|last=Ingle|date=24 March 2007|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

As part of the New Ballymun, a tree-planting project called '[[amaptocare]]' has been run, with more than 600 people sponsoring the planting of around 635 trees, and providing inscription texts which are engraved on plaques near the trees. Sponsors were informed that the all trees would be identified on a glass panel at Ballymun's central plaza. While the plaza was completed by 2013, the panel had, as of 2019, not yet been made.{{update-inline|date=November 2025}}

The most-publicised sculpture was {{lang|ga|Misneach}}, which portrayed a young local woman on a horse, at 1.5 times life size.  The model, Toni Marie Shields, was selected by public auditions, and 3D-imaged in London.  Designed to be placed centrally in the district, it was temporarily erected in front of the area's only secondary school, where, as of 2021, it remained.<ref name="Ballymun's Misneach">{{cite news |last1=Ingle |first1=Róisín |author1-link=Róisín Ingle |title=Ballymun gets a new local hero |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/art-and-design/visual-art/ballymun-gets-a-new-local-hero-1.649039 |access-date=10 March 2021 |newspaper=The Irish Times |publisher=The Irish Times Trust |date=10 September 2010 |location=Dublin, Ireland |quote=If there was an award for the most democratic piece of public art in Ireland, a magnificent new sculpture due to be unveiled next week in Ballymun, Dublin would gallop away with it }}</ref>

===After regeneration===
====Local area plan====
In 2017, with the formal end of the regeneration, and the dissolution of Ballymun Regeneration Limited, 2,820 apartments had been replaced by just under 2,000 units of social housing, and 1,350 units of privately owned housing, mostly rented out.  The area had moved from 80% of residents living in social housing to just under 60%, with one in eight in private rental, and 28% owner-occupied.  In July 2017, the City Council approved a Local Area Plan for the area, to govern future development.  This plan provided for around 2,000 housing units, of which a significant percentage would be for sale, but with developers to be required to sell 10% to the council or an Approved Housing Body for social housing.  The plan included guidance for 31 distinct sites, totalling 34 hectares, and including as a priority redevelopment of the almost-derelict central shopping centre.<ref name="BMunLAP_2017">{{cite news |last1=Kelly |first1=Olivia |title=Council approves plan to build 2,000 homes in Ballymun |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/council-approves-plan-to-build-2-000-homes-in-ballymun-1.3151320 |access-date=9 March 2021 |work=Irish Times |date=12 July 2017}}</ref>

====2018 Metro Hotel Dublin====
A multistorey [[hotel fire]] occurred in the building containing the Metro Hotel Dublin and two floors of apartments, on 21 March 2018. The fire broke out in a private residence on the 13th floor, above rooms for hotel guests, at approximately 8.00 pm. It affected the top seven floors of the building. At least 12 units of [[Dublin Fire Brigade]] attended the building, and confirmed that the hotel was successfully evacuated.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.thejournal.ie/ballymun-fire-3917076-Mar2018/|title=No reports of casualties as major fire rages at building complex in north Dublin city |last=Brennan |first=Cianan |date=21 March 2018 |website=The Journal |access-date= 21 March 2018}}</ref> The fire was extinguished and there were no reports of any casualties or people unaccounted for.<ref>{{cite tweet |user=DubFireBrigade|number=976591050360881153 |date= 21 March 2018 |title=#Ballymun UPDATE: It is important for us to give out correct and factual information. As of yet we have no reports of any casualties or people unaccounted for.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title='Serious fire' at hotel in Dublin |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43493195?ocid=socialflow_twitter&ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ns_source=twitter |date=21 March 2018 |access-date=21 March 2018 }}</ref>

The 15-storey hotel and apartment building was built as part of the Ballymun renewal, developed in 2006 by Pierce Contracting and a group of investors who included businessman Paddy Kelly.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Metro Hotel Up for Sale |url=https://www.hospitalityireland.com/metro-hotel-up-for-sale/14153 |work=Hospitality Ireland |date=8 April 2014 |access-date=21 March 2018 }}</ref> The hotel was designed by Shay Cleary Architects for Pierse Contracting and was originally scheduled to open in June 2006, and was operated by the Days Inn Hotel group.<ref>{{cite report|date= 16 June 2006|title= North West Area Committee Meeting Progress Report|url= http://www.brl.ie/pdf/ProgressReport_June_06.pdf|publisher= Ballymun Renewal Ltd|page= 10|access-date= 21 March 2018|archive-date= 22 March 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180322082102/http://www.brl.ie/pdf/ProgressReport_June_06.pdf|url-status= dead}}</ref>

In 2007 a charter plane with 118 passengers and crew narrowly avoided crashing into the hotel after its pilot mistook the red lighting on the hotel's roof combined with its white internal light for the approach lights of a Dublin Airport runway. The incident occurred at 11.34 pm on the night of 16 August 2007, when the McDonnell Douglas jet was carrying 112 passengers and six crew on a charter flight from Lisbon to Dublin.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Crash narrowly avoided after pilot mistook hotel for runway |url= https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/crash-narrowly-avoided-after-pilot-mistook-hotel-for-runway-89869.html|work= The Examiner|location=Cork |date=22 April 2009 }}</ref>

In April 2014, the 88-bedroom Metro Hotel was put on the market in the region of €2.5 million. Along with the hotel, the sellers sought €3 million for the 30 two-bed apartments on the upper floors of the property. In July 2016, planning permission was refused for the retention of masts and antennae on the hotel.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/40949 |title=Residents at Santry Cross Vindicated on Masts – Reilly |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=22 July 2016 |publisher=Sinn Féin |access-date=21 March 2018 |archive-date=22 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322082115/http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/40949 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Transport==
Ballymun is served by a number of [[Dublin Bus]] routes to the city centre including the numbers 19,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/Your-Journey1/Timetables/All-Timetables/19/ |title=Route 19 |website=[[Dublin Bus]]}}</ref> E1<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/Your-Journey1/Timetables/All-Timetables/E1/ |title=Route E1 |website=[[Dublin Bus]]}}</ref> and the E2<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/Your-Journey1/Timetables/All-Timetables/E2/ |title=Route E2 |website=[[Dublin Bus]]}}</ref> while the Go-Ahead Ireland route 220<ref>{{Cite web |title=220 - DCU to Lady's Well Road |url=https://www.goaheadireland.ie/services/03/220 |access-date=2022-12-06 |website=www.goaheadireland.ie |language=en}}</ref> runs between [[Mulhuddart]] and [[The Helix, Dublin|DCU Helix]] and the 220T runs from [[Finglas]] Garda station to [[Whitehall, Dublin|Whitehall]].

The area was also envisaged to have an underground stop on the planned Metro North ([[Dublin]] city centre to [[Swords, County Dublin|Swords]]) line of the [[Dublin Metro]]. Plans for that have been revived with the Irish Government's 'Project Ireland 2040' scheme and the revised MetroLink concept. Journey time from Ballymun to the airport is estimated be around ten minutes by car, and to Dublin city centre 25–40 minutes.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

==Amenities==
[[ File:Cathode Anode sculpture in Seven Heroes Square, Ballymun.jpg|thumb|upright|Cathode/Anode sculpture on Main Street, Ballymun]]

===Education===
There are a number of schools in each sub-district, including a {{lang|ga|[[Gaelscoil]]}} ([[Irish language|Irish]]-speaking) primary school in the Coultry district and another on Main Street, opposite to Trinity [[Comprehensive school|Comprehensive]] which is the only secondary school in Ballymun; this was formerly known as Ballymun Comprehensive and split between boys on the North side and girls on the South side before a major reconfiguration in 2005.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

===Retail===
From the earliest years of the area's development, due to delays in building retail units, it was served by "van shops".  Often criticised for limited selection and high prices,{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} they remained into the 2000s.<ref name="Bmun_spend9">{{Cite book |title=Income Levels and Spending Preferences of Ballymun People / Part 9 |date=2004 |publisher=Ballymun Partnership |location=Dublin, Ireland |pages=2, 6}}</ref>

The area's only shopping centre, Ballymun Town Centre, was built as a central point for the whole community, and was the main source for shopping for over 40 years. It was owned by the City Council, and rented units on commercial terms, with, as of 1991, a rent roll of half a million euro, and service charge income of 300,000 euro. By that time, there were urgent calls from traders and locals for serious refurbishment, but it proved hard to progress these issues due to questions about who should fund any work.<ref name="RTE_BTownCtr_91">{{cite news |last1=Fitzsimons |first1=Marian |title=Ballymun Neglect (Today Tonight) |url=https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/0122/762225-ballymun-shopping-centre/ |access-date=9 March 2021 |work=RTE News (archives) |date=24 January 1991}}</ref> Redevelopment of the centre was a major element of the Ballymun Masterplan from 1997, and was to be private sector-led.  53% of the centre and surrounding site was sold to major developer Treasury Holdings for 6 million pounds in 2000, with the local authority retaining the rest.  As of 2000, the centre was to be redeveloped by 2005, but there were delays.

In 2009, when Ireland was recovering from financial crisis, the developer secured permission for a complex to be called Springcross, involving a planned investment of 800 million euro to provide more than 70 shopping and office units, cinema and other entertainment facilities, dining places, a new public library branch, and a creche. Construction was planned to begin by 2010, but by then the site had been taken over by State agency NAMA, and the project was unable to proceed.<ref name="BMunSC_demol" /> Various units had closed during and after the disruption of the regeneration, and the anchor tenant, Tesco Ireland, handed back its unit early in 2014.  In May 2014, NAMA and Treasury's receivers agreed to sell the 53% share back to the council, and in 2016 the Council used compulsory purchase powers to secure clear title to the whole complex, with the final lessees leaving mid-2018, and the centre being boarded up. In 2019, a 1.9 million euro contract to clear the site was awarded, and main demolition started mid-2019.  The council announced plans to sell the site to a new developer, who would be permitted to construct a combined retail and residential building.<ref name="BMunSC_demol" /> As of 2025, the site remained vacant.<ref name="Herald_250128">{{Cite news |last=Donohoe |first=Amy |date=28 January 2025 |title=TD slams pace of Ballymun Shopping Centre development |work=The Herald}}</ref>

Aside from the shopping centre, there was a Supervalu supermarket, and in 2020, a Lidl store also opened; the Supervalu closed in late 2023.<ref name="DubInq_SV_cls">{{Cite news |last=Tranum |first=Sam |date=2023-11-22 |title=After 17 years of bustle and hustle, a Ballymun supermarket closes its doors |url=https://dublininquirer.com/2023/11/22/after-17-years-of-bustle-and-hustle-a-ballymun-supermarket-closes-its-doors/ |access-date=2025-02-07 |work=Dublin Inquirer |language=en-IE}}</ref>  The area is otherwise served by shopping centres some kilometres way in Finglas and Santry.  As of 2004, 78% of locals shopped at least once a week in a van shop, 66% in Ballymun Shopping Centre, 44% in Omni Centre in Santry and 19% in Finglas.<ref name="Bmun_spend9"/>

A small AIB branch, which used to be a Bank of Ireland branch before closure in 1984, was demolished in 2017 and replaced by a new AIB branch near the Civic Centre. The Republic of Ireland's only [[IKEA]] store is located between Ballymun and Finglas, on St. Margaret's Road, and is named for the area; the shop has sometimes been the highest-earning IKEA store in the world.<ref name="IKEA_ao23">{{Cite web |title=IKEA Ireland announces double digit sales growth |url=https://www.ikea.com/ie/en/newsroom/corporate-news/ikea-ireland-announces-sales-growth-pub8dceb090/ |date=2025-12-07 |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=www.ikea.com |quote="IKEA Ballymun has risen to become our globally best performing store by revenue" |language=en-IE}}</ref>  A first Irish store for Decathlon, branded Decathlon Baile Munna / Ballymun, was opened adjacent to the IKEA in 2020.<ref name="DecathBMun_open_IT20">{{Cite news |title=Decathlon to open new Dublin store on Saturday |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/retail-and-services/decathlon-to-open-new-dublin-store-on-saturday-1.4273828 |date=2020-06-09 |access-date=2025-02-08 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}</ref>

===Civic centre===
[[File:Ballymun Civic Centre bilingual signs (2025).jpg|thumb|upright|Ballymun Civic Centre bilingual sign]]
On the site of a former large underpass and roundabout, a new civic complex was built, including The Axis Arts Centre (opened in 2001), with the local health centre (completed and opened in 2003) and Garda station also moved here, although their defunct buildings remained across the road. City Council offices are also here, although the offices handling some services, such as driver licensing and motor taxation, closed as part of broader changes in such service delivery.

===Other amenities===
A number of green spaces, parks and playgrounds have been built around the district, and some were remodelled during the regeneration, notably Poppintree Park.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Two hotels, Travelodge and Metro are located in this area, as well as a city-owned gym and leisure centre (the old Ballymun swimming pool was demolished in 2016 after being defunct for a number of years).

===Religion===
There is a church in the old village centre, which was built in 1847 and replaced a penal chapel.<ref name=":0" /> Ballymun is a [[parish]] in the [[List of parishes of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin by deanery#Fingal South West|Fingal South West deanery]] of the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin]]. Ballymun parish is called St. Pappin's Parish  which consist of three churches. 
the three churches are the Virgin Mary Church on Shanghan Road, the Holy Spirit Church on Sillogue Road and St. Joseph's Church in Poppintree.

==Sport==
There are a number of local sports groups in Ballymun. These include Ballymun United Football Club, the local soccer (association football) club. [[Gaelic Athletic Association]] (GAA) clubs in the area include [[Ballymun Kickhams]] Gaelic Football Club and Setanta Hurling Club.{{fact|date=November 2025}}

==Governance==
Ballymun is in the jurisdiction of [[Dublin City Council]], in the council's North West Area, and hosts one of two area offices for that division of the city, the other being in Finglas.<ref>{{cite web |title=North West Area Offices |url=https://www.dublincity.ie/council/find-your-local-area-office/north-west-area-offices |website=Dublin City Council |date=14 July 2025 }}</ref> For local elections, it is part of the [[local electoral area]] of Ballymun–[[Finglas]].

==Events==
An improvement project started by students at Trinity Comprehensive School, Better Ballymun Day,<ref>{{cite web | title=Ballymun students inspiring pride in their area with 'Better Ballymun Day' | date=24 February 2023 | url=https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/ballymun-students-hope-inspire-people-29306816 | website = irishmirror.ie }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Ballymun celebrates Better Ballymun Day | url=https://www.fm104.ie/news/fm104-news/ballymun-celebrates-better-ballymun-day/ | website = fm104.ie }}</ref> In it's first year, over 2000 locals participated in over 60 projects around Ballymun.<ref>{{cite web | title=Around 2,000 expected to turn out for Better Ballymun Action Day | date=24 February 2023 | url=https://www.independent.ie/regionals/dublin/dublin-news/around-2000-expected-to-turn-out-for-better-ballymun-action-day/42358227.html | via = independent.ie }}</ref> has been held annually since February 2020.<ref name="auto1">https://ballymuntidytowns.business.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/a-better-ballymun-first-post.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=November 2025}}</ref> The project mostly consists of several [[litter-picking]], [[recycling]] and [[painting]] initiatives around the suburb.<ref name="auto">{{cite web | last1=O'Donnell | first1=Dimitri | title=Students aim to inspire a 'Better Ballymun' | website=[[RTÉ.ie]] | date=4 March 2022 | url=https://www.rte.ie/news/dublin/2022/0304/1284496-better-ballymun/ }}</ref> It is supported by Trinity Comprehensive School, [[Tidy Towns (Ireland)|Ballymun Tidy Towns]] and [[Dublin City Council]].<ref>{{cite web | title='Better Ballymun Day 2023' showcases the heart of Dublin suburb | date=9 March 2023 | url=https://dublingazette.com/dublinlocalmatters/better-ballymun-day-56423/ | website = dublingazette.com }}</ref>

==In the media==
For decades, Ballymun's reputation was impacted by negative publicity in the media,<ref>{{citation |url = https://breac.nd.edu/articles/oh-jesus-i-cant-take-this-playing-witness-to-the-dramatization-of-ballymuns-urban-regeneration-project-dublin-2004-2008/ | work = Breac - A Digital Journal of Irish Studies | first = Niamh | last = Malone | title = "Oh Jesus, I can’t take this": Playing Witness to the Dramatization of Ballymun’s Urban Regeneration Project, Dublin, 2004-2008 | date = July 2014 | accessdate = 19 November 2025 }}</ref> which often placed more focus on crime and drugs than on positive news from the area.<ref name="Connolly2006"/><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.dublininquirer.com/the-4th-act-and-the-struggle-over-the-story-of-ballymun/ | website = dublininquirer.com | title = "The 4th Act" and the Struggle over the Story of Ballymun | date = 22 February 2017 | accessdate = 19 November 2025 | first = Lois | last = Kapila }}</ref>

===Television and film===
====Filming location====
The 1992 film [[Into the West (film)|Into the West]] was set and filmed in Ballymun. Other fictional works that were set in the area include the 1994 drama mini-series ''[[Family (1994 TV series)|Family]]'' and the 1982 short film ''One Day Time''.<ref>{{cite web | title=One Day Time | website=[[YouTube]] | date=27 May 2013 | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRQxQaCX4DY&t=215s }}</ref>

While not set in Ballymun, the 2002 British-Irish film based around the 1972 "Bloody Sunday" incident in Northern Ireland, [[Bloody Sunday (film)|''Bloody Sunday'']], film was mostly shot in Ballymun, with some location scenes shot in Northern Ireland.{{fact|date=November 2025}}

====Documentary====
Several documentaries of the area have been made throughout the years, notably during the regeneration.  A film of the leisure centre by filmmakers Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy, ''LEISURE CENTRE'', was made in 2007 and starred hundreds of Ballymun residents.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://civiclifetiongbahru.com/2011/04/01/civic-life-leisure-centre/  |title=Civic Life: Leisure Centre « Civic Life: Tiong Bahru |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331070859/http://civiclifetiongbahru.com/2011/04/01/civic-life-leisure-centre/ |archive-date=31 March 2012 }}</ref>  A documentary film entitled ''Ballymun Lullaby'' was released in February 2011 and includes scenes detailing the regeneration of Ballymun as well as its impact on the culture of its populace.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ballymunlullabythefilm.com/Ballymun_Lullaby/ABOUT.html|title=Documentary Ballymun Lullaby}}{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The 2018 documentary, ''[[The 4th Act]]'', explored the regeneration of Ballymun, with contextual material about the area's history; it contained appearances from several community activists, and City Council and BRL officials, and the artists, Seamus Nolan and [[Jochen Gerz]], who led the Hotel Ballymun and [[amaptocare]] art projects respectively. It also highlighted the compilation and printing of the area's oral history project.{{fact|date=November 2025}}

===Books===
In September 2006, [[Gill & Macmillan]] published ''The Mun: Growing up in Ballymun'', by Lynn Connolly.<ref name="Connolly2006">{{cite book | title = The Mun: Growing Up in Ballymun | first = Lynn | last = Connolly | publisher = Gill & Macmillan | date = 2006 | isbn = 9780717140428 }}</ref> This memoir spans the history of Ballymun from its inception to the regeneration of the area. ''The Mun'' was Connolly's account of another side of Ballymun, of which she had fond memories, not press stories about drug dealing and gangsters but accounts of a community that thrived in spite of the squalor.{{fact|date=November 2025}}

In April 2009, Gill & Macmillan also published Ballymun resident Rachael Keogh's account of her life as a heroin addict, ''Dying to Survive''. Keogh started taking drugs aged 12 and for the next 15 years was hooked on a variety of substances. In 2006, after repeated attempts to get help, she went to the media to publicise her plight.{{fact|date=November 2025}}

In 2010, New Island Books published ''The Ballymun Trilogy'' by the Dublin playwright, Dermot Bolger: three plays that chart forty years of life in Ballymun. These plays all premiered in Axis in Ballymun before being staged internationally.{{fact|date=November 2025}}

==Notable residents==
{{unreferenced section|date=March 2021}}
* [[Patrick Clarke]], filmmaker, Sillogue Road from 1967 to 1972
* [[Aoife Dooley]], writer, illustrator, comedienne lives there
* [[Glen Hansard]], musician
* [[M. J. Hyland]], author, lived there for two years and uses the experience in "Carry Me Down"
* [[Catherine McAuley]], founder of the [[Sisters of Mercy]], was born in Stormanstown House, a Georgian house that stood where Ballymun Library currently is.
* [[James McCarthy (Gaelic footballer)|James McCarthy]], [[Gaelic football]]er
* [[Philly McMahon]], Gaelic footballer
* [[Barney Rock]], Gaelic footballer
* [[Dean Rock]], Gaelic footballer

==See also==
* [[List of towns and villages in the Republic of Ireland|List of towns and villages in Ireland]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Ballymun}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200218143858/http://www.brl.ie/ Website of Ballymun Regeneration Ltd] (archived 2020)
* [http://www.brl.ie/Implosion_2.htm Photos of the demolition of one of the flats] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427055147/http://www.brl.ie/Implosion_2.htm |date=27 April 2006 }}

{{Dublin residential areas}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ballymun| ]]
[[Category:Towns and villages in Dublin (city)]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1966]]