Ballymun Flats

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The Ballymun Flats refers to a number of flats – including the Ballymun tower blocks, seven landmark residential towers built in the 1960s – in Ballymun, Dublin. 2016 was the first full year when all the flats no longer existed with demolition of the last flat beginning in September 2015. Since October 2013, all three remaining blocks at the time were empty. There were 36 blocks of Ballymun flats (7 fifteen storey, 19 eight storey and 10 four storey blocks).[1]

History

The Ballymun Flats were built in the 1960s to accommodate the rising population, particularly to accommodate former residents of inner-city areas which were being cleared in the process of 1960s 'urban slum clearances'. Whilst suffering from a lack of sufficient public amenities, several schools served the area (Holy Spirit N.S. and Ballymun Comprehensive), as well as an Eastern Health Board medical centre and a purpose built shopping centre. The area suffered from many social problems such as drugs and rampant crime. The causes of these social problems, and the subsequent discrimination faced by many people with Ballymun addresses when seeking employment outside the suburb, have been disputed, but Ballymun generally paralleled the experience of many working-class people in the 1960 and 1970s when placed in high-rise locations.

Despite the negative perceptions of many non-residents of Ballymun, many of the residents insist that there is a strong sense of pride and community in the area.[2] Lynn Connolly, whose 2006 memoir The Mun: Growing Up in Ballymun detailed her raising there in the 1970s and 1980s, readily acknowledged the problems there and wanted to get out at the time.[3] But she later came to realise that there had been much that was good at the towers – in terms of a collective wit among residents and a helping sense of community – which had been ignored by the media.[3][4]

The Ballymun Flats where the first place in the Irish Republic to receive cable television. RTE Relays Ltd, a subsidiary of the national broadcaster RTE installed cable television into the flats in the 1963, giving each flat the ability to watch the main UK television channels BBC One, BBC Two, ITV (from 1982 Channel 4) as well as RTE Television via cable.[5][6]

Four storey flats

All three four-storey flats (Sandyhill Avenue, Sillogue Avenue and Shangan Avenue) have been demolished. A new area called Marewood, consisting of houses and apartments, is now situated where the Sandyhill Avenue flats once stood.

Eight storey flats

All of these flats (Joseph Plunkett, Balcurris) have now since been demolished around about the end of 2015, leaving no more eight-storey flats remaining in the estate.

Fifteen story flats

An April 2007 image of Joseph Plunkett Tower, the last remaining tower, in Ballymun. In the background the Sillogue Road flats can be seen.

The Ballymun tower blocks were seven landmark residential towers built in the 1960s in Ballymun, Dublin, Republic of Ireland. The seven towers were named after the seven leaders of the 1916 rising; Patrick Pearse, Thomas MacDonagh, Sean MacDermott, Eamonn Ceannt, Thomas Clarke, James Connolly and Joseph Plunkett.

Only one of these towers remains standing today as the plans to regenerate Ballymun are due for completion by 2014. In 2004 demolition of the first tower began. The Patrick Pearse tower was demolished slowly by mechanical means, whilst MacDermott and MacDonagh Towers were demolished by controlled implosion. Ceannt, Clarke and Connolly towers were demolished by mechanical means also, and Joseph Punkett tower is currently being demolished the same way.

The red aircraft warning lights on these structures were not connected to any form of back-up power for many years, leaving the towers completely dark in a power outage.

Construction/Demolition

  • Patrick Pearse tower (1966–2004) was the first of the Ballymun towers to go up in 1966. Pearse Tower was half way through construction when the construction of MacDonagh Tower started. Pearse Tower was the first tower to be demolished in 2004.
  • Thomas MacDonagh tower (1966–2005) was the second tower to go up in 1966 and in 2005 was demolished by controlled implosion.
  • Eamonn Ceannt tower (1966–2005) was the third tower built in 1966; in 2005 it was demolished.
  • James Connolly tower (1966–2007) was the fourth tower built in 1966. In 2007 it was demolished.
  • Sean MacDermott tower (1966–2005) was the fifth tower to be built, in 1966. In 2005 it was demolished by controlled implosion and went down in less than 8 seconds.
  • Thomas Clarke tower (1966–2008) was the 6th tower built in 1966. Before it was demolished in 2008, the top floor was turned into a short stay hotel.
  • Joseph Plunkett tower (1967–2015) was the last built in 1967. The tower's demolition began on the 22nd of September 2015, and is now most likely an empty lot.

Gallery

  • Joseph plunkett tower.JPG

    Plunkett tower

  • James connolly Tower 2007.JPG

    Connolly tower.

  • Ceannt Tower.JPG

    Ceannt tower.

  • Clarke Tower.JPG

    Clarke Tower

  • COPY OF MACDERMOTT.JPG

    MacDermott Tower

  • MacDonagh Tower.JPG

    Thomas MacDonagh Tower

  • Pearse Tower2.JPG

    Pearse Tower was the first to be demolished.

  • MacDonagh Implosion.JPG

    MacDonagh Tower being demolished by controlled implosion in 2005.

  • MacDermott Implosion.JPG

    MacDermott Tower being demolished by controlled implosion in 2005.

  • Ceannt Demoltion.JPG

    Ceannt Tower being demolished by mechanical means in 2005.

  • Clarke tower demolition.jpg

    Clarke tower being demolished By mechanical means in 2008.

  • Demolition.JPG

    Connolly tower being demolished by mechanical means in 2007.

In popular culture

  • The line "I see seven towers, but I only see one way out" from U2's 1987 song "Running to Stand Still" (on The Joshua Tree album) refers to these towers.[7] The link between the towers and the song was pervasive enough to be mentioned in some tourist books about Dublin.[8]
  • Ballymun flats feature in M. J. Hyland's Booker-shortlisted novel Carry Me Down (2006), symbolising John's family's descent into poverty.
  • The Ballymun Trilogy is a series of three plays about the process of change in Ballymun, written by Dermot Bolger and staged by the Axis Art Centre located close to the original site of McDonagh Tower. They are From These Green Heights, The Townlands of Brazil, and The Consequences of Lightning.
  • Lynn Connolly followed up her memoir with a 2012 mystery set in the Ballymun flats entitled Elizabeth III'.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.herald.ie/news/ballymuns-last-tower-blocks-to-be-demolished-29568088.html
  2. ↑ "Ballymun – A History"
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Chapter 1 available online.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055626461&page=4
  6. ↑ http://myhome.iolfree.ie/~icdg/feature_history.htm
  7. ↑ The Dubliner, "A Social History of U2 1976–2005", 1991 entry. Retrieved 14 December 2006.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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