Donaghmede - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Donaghmede is a residential suburb of Dublin, in the province of Leinster

Leinster

Leinster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the east of Ireland. It comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Mide, Osraige and Leinster. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the historic fifths of Leinster and Mide gradually merged, mainly due to the impact of the Pale, which straddled...

, Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

Location

Donaghmede is situated approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the north east of the Dublin city centre, and is in the constituency of Dublin North East

Dublin North East (Dáil Éireann constituency)

Dublin North–East is a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas. The constituency elects 3 deputies...

. It lies within the jurisdiction of Dublin City Council

Dublin City Council

Dublin City Council is the local authority for the city of Dublin in Ireland. It has 52 members and is the largest local authority in Ireland. Until 2001, it was known as Dublin Corporation.-Legal status:...

and the postal district Dublin 13.

Road

Donaghmede is served by Grange Road (to Baldoyle and Howth) and N32 from the Malahide Road and M50

M50 motorway (Ireland)

The M50 motorway is a motorway in Ireland running in a C-shaped ring around the north-eastern, northern, western and southern sides of the capital city, Dublin. The northern end of the route is located at the entrance to the Dublin Port Tunnel. Anti-clockwise it heads northwest through the tunnel...

and M1, to the north, and the Tonlegee Road to the south.

Railway

In the south eastern corner of Donaghmede is Howth Junction & Donaghmede railway station, situated on the Dublin–Belfast railway line and served by Dublin Area Rapid Transit

Dublin Area Rapid Transit

The Dublin Area Rapid Transit is part of the suburban railway network in Ireland, running mainly along the coastline of Dublin Bay on the Trans-Dublin route, from Greystones in County Wicklow, through Dublin to Howth and Malahide in County Dublin.Trains are powered via a 1500V DC overhead catenary...

(DART

Dublin Area Rapid Transit

) and occasional InterCity (Iarnród Éireann)

InterCity (Iarnród Éireann)

InterCity is the brand name given to rail services operated by Iarnród Éireann that run between Dublin and other major cities in the Republic of Ireland.-Services:InterCity services from Dublin operate from two main stations:...

trains, while in the northern part if Clongriffin railway station

Clongriffin railway station

Clongriffin railway station serves Dublin Area Rapid Transit and InterCity .-Location:Clongriffin railway station is situated along the Dublin–Belfast railway line between Portmarnock railway station and Howth Junction.-History:...

Bus

Dublin Bus

Dublin Bus is a public transport operator in Ireland. It operates an extensive bus network of 172 radial, cross-city and peripheral routes and 18 night routes in the city of Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area. The company, established in 1987, is a subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann which is...

provides services on routes 29A (from the city centre), 43 (from city centre to Swords Business Park), 17A (from Kilbarrack Industrial Estate to Finglas

Finglas

-See also:* List of towns and villages in Ireland* List of abbeys and priories in Ireland...

), 128 (from Donaghamede Roundabout to Palmerston Park, Rathmines

Rathmines

Rathmines is a suburb on the southside of Dublin, about 3 kilometres south of the city centre. It effectively begins at the south side of the Grand Canal and stretches along the Rathmines Road as far as Rathgar to the south, Ranelagh to the east and Harold's Cross to the west.Rathmines has...

via Malahide Road, Dublin Connolly railway station

Dublin Connolly railway station

Dublin Connolly, commonly called Connolly station , is one of the main railway stations in Dublin, Ireland, and is a focal point in the Irish route network. Opened in 1844 as Amiens Street Station, the ornate facade has a distinctive Italianate tower at its centre...

, Nassau Street, Dublin

Nassau Street, Dublin

Nassau Street is a street in central Dublin, running along the south side of Trinity College. It runs from Grafton Street in the west, to the junction of South Leinster Street and Kildare Street in the East....

, and St Stephen's Green), and the 29N Nitelink service http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/Your-Journey1/Timetables/Nitelink-Services/Nitelink/ with late night service from D'Olier Street

D'Olier Street

D'Olier Street is a street in the southern city-centre of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. It and Westmoreland Street are two broad streets whose northern ends meet at the southern end of O'Connell Bridge over the River Liffey...

to Baldoyle Road, stopping on Grange Road. 104 from Clontarf to Edenmore.

Historical Features

Running through the southern parts of Donaghmede is a small local river, the Kilbarrack Stream and/or Daunagh Water. This is currently culverted as it heads towards the coast, and reaches the sea at two points in lower Kilbarrack / Bayside.

The once popular Saint Donagh's Well, a holy well, was regularly visited for hundreds of years. It is said that the waters of Saint Donagh's Well healed eyes and rejuvenated eyesight. Saint Donagh's Well was once one of three local holy wells which were visited in procession .

In the northern part of Donaghmede is Grange Abbey, historically "a small church within the Grange of Baldoyle" which once served as Parish Church of the lands of the Priory of All Saints (now site of Trinity College Dublin). The chapel, which once hosted a small parliamentary meeting, has been in ruins since at least 1615.

Parks

The redeveloped Fr. Collins Park

Fr. Collins Park

Father Collins Park is a public park located in Dublin near the boundary between the city and the Fingal County Council division of County Dublin in the Province of Leinster, Ireland....

was officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Dublin in May 2009 and is Ireland’s first "sustainable park" with five 50KW wind turbines protruding from the central linear water feature and providing power for public lighting, maintenance depots and football club changing rooms. The park also features a skate-park, 2 playgrounds, 6 playing pitches, picnic areas with outdoor chess/draughts boards, natural woodlands and a peripheral running/cycling track. Further information on the park including pictures, opening times etc. can be found on the Dublin City Council website.

Other green spaces lie around the main complex of schools, around the church and along the Kilbarrack Stream and above its culverted course.

Civic Facilities

There is a Dublin Public Libraries branch library in the main shopping centre.

Education

There are four primary (two junior, Scoil Bhride and St. Kevin's, two senior, Holy Trinity and Naomh Colmcille) and three secondary schools (Grange Community College, Donahies Community School and Gaelcholáiste Reachrann) in the area, and a vertical school - catering for children from Junior Infants to Sixth - St. Francis of Assisi Primary School - in the Belmayne estate in nearby Balgriffin.

Sport

There are a number of soccer and Gaelic football clubs in the area along with the local Sports and Leisure Centre (http://trinitysportsandleisure.ie/). These include Wyteleaf United, Trinity Gaels

Trinity Gaels

Trinity Gaels is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Donaghmede in Dublin, Ireland. Trinity Gaels were founded in 1975 to cater for the growing population in the Donaghmede area. The club got their name from the local Roman Catholic parish name, the parish of the Holy Trinity...

GAA

Gaelic Athletic Association

The Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation focused primarily on promoting Gaelic games, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders...

club, and Trinity Donaghmede FC (previously called "Donaghmede Celtic and Trinity Sports and Leisure Football Club")as well as new club Carndonagh Athletic Football Club. The area is also well served by the famous Trinity Boys Boxing. The Trinity Sports and Leisure Complex (http://trinitysportsandleisure.ie/) is situated beside Father Collins Park. (The park however is to due 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.)

Retail

Donaghmede Shopping Centre

Donaghmede Shopping Centre is a shopping centre, that is located in Donaghmede, a suburb in Dublin's Northside.The shopping centre is built on the site of the original Donaghmede House. The shopping centre had a H Williams supermarket, but was sold to Dunnes Stores in 1987...

stands on the site of the original Donaghmede House. Dunnes Stores

Dunnes Stores

Dunnes Stores, also known as Dunnes, is a supermarket and clothing retail chain, that is based in Dublin, Ireland.The chain primarily sells food, clothes and household wares. In addition to its main customer base in Ireland, the chain has operations in Great Britain and Spain...

is the anchor tenant

Anchor store

In retail, an anchor store, draw tenant, anchor tenant, or key tenant is one of the larger stores in a shopping mall, usually a department store or a major retail chain....

although there are a number of other shops, a cafe and a chemist.

Currently, the centre is being improved and redeveloped. However a number of local residents groups, such as the Donaghmede Estate Residents Committee, and some public representatives, have opposed the developments.

The Donaghmede Inn Public House and some other shops have direct access from outside.

Religion

Holy Trinity Parish Church is (Roman Catholic). It is a distinctive cruciform building with a triangular profile. Located on Grange Road, Holy Trinity Church serves the combined parish of Donaghmede, Clongriffin and Balgriffin.

Politics & Community Representation

Donaghmede is part of the Dáil Éireann

Dáil Éireann

Dáil Éireann is the lower house, but principal chamber, of the Oireachtas , which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann . It is directly elected at least once in every five years under the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote...

constituency of Dublin North East

Dublin North East (Dáil Éireann constituency)

Dublin North–East is a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas. The constituency elects 3 deputies...

, whose three elected representatives are Tommy Broughan of the Labour Party

Labour Party (Ireland)

The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. The Labour Party was founded in 1912 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, by James Connolly, James Larkin and William X. O'Brien as the political wing of the Irish Trade Union Congress. Unlike the other main Irish...

, elected in 1992; Terence Flanagan of Fine Gael

Fine Gael

Fine Gael is a centre-right to centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland. It is the single largest party in Ireland in the Oireachtas, in local government, and in terms of Members of the European Parliament. The party has a membership of over 35,000...

, elected in 2007; and Sean Kenny of Labour, elected in 2011.
Donaghmede gives its name to a local electoral area within the Dublin City Council

Dublin City Council

area, which also includes Raheny and other localities.

The Donaghmede area currently has 5 local councilors. Sean Kenny and Anne Carter of the Labour Party

Labour Party (Ireland)

, Tom Brabazon of Fianna Fáil

Fianna Fáil

Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party , more commonly known as Fianna Fáil is a centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland, founded on 23 March 1926. Fianna Fáil's name is traditionally translated into English as Soldiers of Destiny, although a more accurate rendition would be Warriors of Fál...

, Mícheál Mac Donncha of Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

, and Pat Crimmins of Fine Gael

Fine Gael

.

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

Residential

Unlike many other suburbs of Dublin, Donaghmede was not a village absorbed by 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.

Notable Residents

Among Donaghmede's more famous former residents are Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch of Boyzone, Edele & Keavy Lynch of B*witched (sisters of Boyzone's Shane), members of girlband Wonderland

Wonderland (band)

Wonderland were an Irish/British girlband, formed by Louis Walsh and Westlife band-member Kian Egan. The band were put together after auditions were held for five females in July 2008. Its five members were Jodi Albert, Sharon Condon, Corrina Durran, Leigh Learmont and Kasey Smith...

Kasey Smith and Leigh Learmont, musician Damien Dempsey, Republic of Ireland and Birmingham City F.C.

Birmingham City F.C.

Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...

footballer Stephen Carr

Stephen Carr

Stephen Carr is an Irish footballer who plays for and captains Birmingham City. He previously played for the Premier League teams Tottenham Hotspur and, for a shorter spell, Newcastle United. He is a former international player with the Republic of Ireland...

, award-winning independent filmmaker James McDonald, Bobby O'Leary who competed in the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992, Alan McCormack, Irish Road Race champion who competed in Olympics Montreal 1976 as a cyclist, brother Paul who won Ireland's premier stage race (An Ras Tailteann) twice and competed in the Seoul Olympics of 1988 in the cycling event and JJ, their father, also Irish road race champion in cycling. Pat Walsh, 1964 All Ireland boxing champion lived in The Donahies from 1971, to his death in 2005. Also from Donaghmede is Irish International multiple boxing Champion and 2011 European bronze medalist Craig Bonney from the local Trinity Boys Boxing Club and Derrick "The K Hole" Byrne.