- Donaghmede
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Donaghmede
Domhnach Mide— Suburb — Location in Ireland
DonaghmedeCoordinates: 53°23′41″N 6°9′43″W / 53.39472°N 6.16194°WCoordinates: 53°23′41″N 6°9′43″W / 53.39472°N 6.16194°W Country Ireland Province Leinster County County Dublin Time zone WET (UTC+0) – Summer (DST) IST (WEST) (UTC-1) Irish Grid Reference 
Holy Trinity Parish church (Roman Catholic), Donaghmede
Donaghmede (Irish: Domhnach Mide, meaning "St. Mide's Church")[1] is a residential suburb of Dublin, in the province of Leinster, Ireland.
Contents
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. It lies within the jurisdiction of Dublin City Council and the postal district Dublin 13.
Access
Road
Donaghmede is served by Grange Road (to Baldoyle and Howth) and N32 from the Malahide Road and M50 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 (DART) and occasional InterCity (Iarnród Éireann) trains, while in the northern part if Clongriffin railway station.
Bus
Dublin Bus provides services on routes 29A (from the city centre), 43 (from city centre to Swords Business Park), 17A (from Kilbarrack Industrial Estate to Finglas), 128 (from Donaghamede Roundabout to Palmerston Park, Rathmines via Malahide Road, Dublin Connolly railway station, Nassau Street, Dublin, and St Stephen's Green), and the 29N Nitelink service [2] with late night service from D'Olier Street 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[citation needed].
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.
Facilities & Amenities
Parks
The redeveloped Fr. Collins Park 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 GAA 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.)[2]
Retail
Donaghmede Shopping Centre stands on the site of the original Donaghmede House. Dunnes Stores is the anchor tenant 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 constituency of Dublin North East, whose three elected representatives are Tommy Broughan of the Labour Party, elected in 1992; Terence Flanagan of Fine Gael, 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 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, Tom Brabazon of Fianna Fáil, Mícheál Mac Donncha of Sinn Féin, and Pat Crimmins of Fine Gael.
Donaghmede has a range of residents associations,[citation needed] and a collective forum which speaks on major issues such as the Shopping Centre.[citation needed]
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 Kasey Smith and Leigh Learmont, musician Damien Dempsey, Republic of Ireland and Birmingham City F.C. footballer Stephen Carr, 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.
References
See also
- List of towns and villages in Ireland
- Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin
- Civil parishes in Ireland
Categories:- Donaghmede
- Towns and villages in County Dublin
- Articles on towns and villages in Ireland possibly missing Irish place names
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