Darndale
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Darndale (Irish: Darndál ) is an area on the Northside of Dublin, in Ireland, featuring a high concentration of social housing. It is located in the north of the sprawling suburb of Coolock. Darndale lies within the Dublin 17 postal district.
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[edit] History
The area originally comprised farmlands in northern Coolock, and took its name from a large house situated off the Malahide Road. As with most areas of Coolock, it was intensively developed by Dublin Corporation. The area was subject to much unrest during the late 1980s, culminating in the riots of 1987[citation needed] - during which Traveler families housed in the area were targeted and forcibly evicted[citation needed]. Nowadays however, Darndale is one of the few areas of Dublin where Travelers and settled people mix socially.[citation needed]
[edit] Location and access
Located to the north-east of Dublin city, Darndale is bordered to the east by the Malahide Road, to the north by the N32, to the west by Priorswood, and to the south by the Riverside housing estate in Coolock. It comprises the housing estates of Buttercup, Marigold, Primrose Grove, Snowdrop Walk and Tulip Court and Belcamp.
Darndale is accessible by the Malahide Road and the N32 (via the old Clonshaugh Road), and also via the Greencastle Road. It is within 3km of Dublin Airport. It is served by Dublin Bus.
[edit] Today
Darndale has a planned village centre, small industrial units, including a bakery, and is home to a major Traveller settlement by the N32, and in a separate compound, Traveller school facilities.
Immediately adjacent are the large Clare Hall Shopping Centre (anchored by Tesco Ireland), a Shell petrol station and a Hilton Hotel (the "Dublin Airport Hilton").
Since around 2004, Darndale has also had an unusual leisure amenity - a substantial fishing pond, built in cooperation with the Eastern Regional Fisheries Board.
Darndale, with the Belcamp housing development, forms a parish in the Roman Catholic church.[citation needed]
[edit] Social issues
Darndale was built as a social housing experiment consisting of low-rise, courtyard-based houses to encourage stronger community links in large, and largely resettled, communities. The idea of the "courts" was to create neighbourly bonds among the new residents. This idea of a communal space fostering community spirit was based on a large housing scheme called Crickiter's Way, located in Birmingham, England.[citation needed] This housing plan has not been repeated in the Republic of Ireland since the construction of the Darndale estates.
Problems involving the courts began to surface and some became centres of anti-social behaviour, with residents complaining to the local authority.[citation needed] Improvements have been made recently in the housing plan - laneways have been closed and back gardens extended, CCTV has been installed in the estates and residents believe this has had a positive effect[citation needed]. However, the sheer size of the Darndale area has created problems (much like the ones found in Ballymun and other areas with high concentrations of social housing found across Dublin[citation needed]).
[edit] Recent developments
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This section does not cite any references or sources. (May 2008) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
Lately the area around Darndale has seen significant[specify] development, most notably the Hilton hotel, which is located in Belcamp / Balgriffin on the border of the Darndale area.[citation needed] Attempts by hotel management to pass the hotel off[weasel words] as being located in far away Malahide failed miserably[weasel words] with the hotel being named locally as 'The Darndale Hilton'[cite this quote] (the hotel's official name is The Hilton Hotel - Dublin Airport).[citation needed] This trend of new development in the area dis-associating itself from Darndale continued with the new housing estates being built literally[vague] yards from Darndale (at Balgriffin) yet estate agents advertising the new developments as "near" Malahide (5km away) and Portmarnock (4km away) and making no reference to the Darndale area.[citation needed]
