Donaghmede

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Donaghmede (Domhnach Mide in Irish) is a northside suburb of Dublin, Ireland about 6 miles to the north east of the city centre. The postal code for Donaghmede is Dublin 13.

Contents 1 Location and accesses 2 Boundaries and environs 3 History and housing developments 4 Amenities 5 Sport 6 Politics and Community Representation 7 Points of note 8 Crime 9 References 10 See also

[edit] Location and accesses

Donaghmede is located in the Dublin City Council area close to the border with Fingal County Council. It is near to Kilbarrack, Raheny, Coolock, and Baldoyle, from the western part of which the district was mostly formed (with a little from Coolock). Where it meets Coolock is the housing estate of Clare Hall, which lies in both districts.

Donaghmede has its own rail station, Howth Junction, which is on both the DART line to Howth/Malahide and the Northern Commuter line to Drogheda. Northern Donaghmede will be served by the planned station at Grange Road, on the border with Baldoyle, one side of which will open into the Clongriffin development.

The area is served by Dublin Bus route 29A from the city centre. The 17A bus route, from Kilbarrack to Finglas also serves the area. Previously the Aerdart service operated from Howth Junction to Dublin Airport but this service was suspended indefinitely in 2005.

[edit] Boundaries and environs

The railway line marks the eastern boundary beyond which lies the remainder of Baldoyle. To the north is the N32 / M50 extension and the borders with Coolock and Balgriffin. A green belt area then stretches towards Portmarnock and Kinsealy although this is slowly being built over with new housing developments at the townlands of Clongriffin and Stapolin and within Balgriffin. The Kilbarrack Road acts as the southern boundary and Ayrfield, a part of Coolock, is located to the west.

[edit] History and housing developments

Unlike many other suburbs of Dublin, Donaghmede was not a village consumed by the suburban sprawl; rather it was an area of farmland, with a number of large houses with attendant worker’s cottages (many of these latter survive along the Hole in the Wall Road that leads to Portmarnock, but none of the original "big houses" exist today).

Within Donaghmede are a number of housing developments, notably Donaghmede, Grangemore, The Donahies, Grange Abbey, St Donagh’s, Millbrook, Newgrove Estate and Howth View. The bulk of these developments were constructed between circa 1970 – 1974.

The new locality of Clongriffin, with several component housing estates, and various amenities, is being constructed in northern Donaghmede, just across the railway from Baldoyle, and backing on to Fr. Collins Park.

[edit] Amenities

Donaghmede Shopping Centre stands on the site of the original Donaghmede House; Dunnes Stores is the anchor tenant. Proposals to redevelop the centre have been in discussion for some years and as of 2007, permission for some redevelopment has been given. However a number of local residents groups, such as the Donaghmede Estate Residents Committee have opposed the development, as have local Sinn Féin councilors Killian Forde and Larry O'Toole. As well as the main mall, some stores at the centre, and the Donaghmede Inn pub, have direct access from outside.

Tesco Ireland operates a small shopping centre in nearby Kilbarrack and also opened a hypermarket as the centrepiece of the "Clare Hall Shopping Centre" in 2004; the Clare Hall estate also has a small shopping precinct.

There is a Dublin Public Libraries branch library in the main shopping centre. A municipal fire station is located just across the boundary with Kilbarrack.

There are four primary (two junior, Scoil Bhride and St. Kevin's, and two senior, Holy Trinity and Naomh Colmcille) and three secondary schools (Grange Community College, Donahies Community School and Gaelcholáiste Reachrann) in the area.

Holy Trinity Parish church (Roman Catholic), a distinctive triangular building, is located opposite the shopping centre on Grange Road.

[edit] Sport

There are a number of soccer and Gaelic football clubs including Trinity Donaghmede FC (Previously Donaghmede Celtic and Trinity Sports and Leisure Football Club) and Trinity Gaels, Gaelic Athletic Association club. Trinity Sports and Leisure Complex is situated beside Father Collins Park although the park is to be redeveloped as part of the "Clongriffin" development, and Trinity Sports and Leisure Club is in dispute with the City Council over a proposal to build a leisure centre for Clongriffin and Baldoyle within 200m of their complex^[1].

[edit] Politics and Community Representation

It is located in the Dublin North East constituency and gives its name to a local electoral area (LEA), which also includes Raheny and other localities, within the Dublin City Council area. The 3 elected representatives for the Dublin North-East constituency are Tommy Broughan of the Labour Party, Terence Flanagan of Fine Gael and Dr. Michael Woods of Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fáil have held at least one seat in the constituency since 1937. Both Fine Gael and Labour have also generally polled well in the area. The Workers' Party of Ireland and Clann na Poblachta previously had strong support in this area, and the Workers Party had retained seats in the area from 1987 until 1992, and again from 1992 until 1997. ^{http://www.politics.ie/wiki/index.php?title=Dublin_North_East}

The Donaghmede area currently has 5 local councilors. Sean Kenny and Anne Carter of the Labour Party, Tom Brabazon of Fianna Fáil, Killian Forde of Sinn Féin and Niamh Cosgrave of Fine Gael.

Donaghmede has a range of residents associations, and a collective forum which speaks on major issues such as the Shopping Centre.

[edit] Points of note

In the lower part of what is now Donaghmede is Grange Stream, a small local river. This is culverted through the coastwards part of the area, including the area which once featured the popular St. Donagh's Well, a holy well with a regular pattern.

Among Donaghmede's more famous former residents are Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch of Boyzone, musician Damien Dempsey, Republic of Ireland and Newcastle United footballer Stephen Carr and Bobby O'Leary who competed in the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992.

[edit] Crime

Donaghmede and the surrounding areas are monitored from Coolock Garda Station, and featured heavily in the media in 2006 after there were a number of alleged gang-related shootings in Donaghmede, Coolock and Kilbarrack, resulting in at least 7 fatalities^[2]

Donaghmede has on occasion been associated with a number of dissident republican groups such as the Real IRA ^[3] Meanwhile it is alleged that the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) remain active in the area following the killing of a number of local drug dealers and petty criminals.^[4] In September 2007, over 50 residents had to be evacuated from their homes following the discovery of a suspect device on the windscreen of a car in the Grange Abbey area. The device was a hoax bomb, said to be intended as a warning to a local drug dealer, although the wrong car appeared to have been targeted.[9]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• List of towns in the Republic of Ireland