Дублин қаласының солтүстік жаққа орналасқан Баллимун ауданы

Large northside suburb of Dublin, Ireland

Ballymun is an outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland, at the northern edge of the Northside, the green field development of which began in the 1960s to accommodate a housing crisis in inner city areas of Dublin. While the newly built housing was state of the art at the time, comprising high rise tower blocks and flat complexes, residents were moved in years before shops, schools and other infrastructure were fully ready, and the area became well known for both a strong community spirit and considerable social challenges. Ballymun has several sub districts such as Sillogue, Coultry, Shangan and Poppintree, and is close to both the Republic of Ireland's only IKEA store and to Dublin Airport. The area is the source of one Dublin river, and parts lie in the floodplain of another, and there are a number of parks. In 1997, a regeneration plan was announced, which led to demolition of the flats over time and their replacement by new low rise housing, along with some civic amenities, a number of arts projects, including the participative tree planting project amaptocare, and an unfinished civic plaza, but also saw the loss of many of the area's shops, including the demolition of the only shopping centre. The regeneration, originally budgeted at €442 million, had cost at least €1 billion as of 2016, for the public elements. A metro stop on a city to airport line was planned but the plans were later shelved. The population of all electoral divisions labelled as Ballymun was 22,321 as of the 2022 census. Ballymun neighbours Finglas, Glasnevin and Santry.

The name Ballymun most likely derives from Baile Muin, meaning the 'town of the shrubland', in reference to the once dense forest which covered the area. In the 1300s the land was controlled by the Baron Skryne, County Meath. Richard Stanyhurst was granted 180 acres at Ballymun in 1473 upon his marriage to Agneta of the Barons of Scyrne family. The Burnell family held the lands of Ballymun and Balgriffin until 1534, when John Burnell was executed for supporting the rebellion of Silken Thomas. The lands then passed to the Bathe family of Drumcondra. By 1615, Robert Barnwell of Dunbro held the lands of Ballymun, and by 1641 there were just 2 or 3 cottages and a single thatched house in the area. The population in 1659 was 10 people, 4 born in England, and 6 Irish. In 1662, just 3 residents paid a hearth tax in the area. In the early 1700s, the tower house at Ballymun was constructed as a mill, which was subsequently taken over by an English educational society in 1744 to found a girls Charter School. It was later converted to a boys school, before closing in 1825. The building still stands and is today called Santry Lodge. Due to the dense woodland and sparse population, the area was generally regarded as dangerous in the early 1700s, with numerous highwaymen operating on the Drogheda Road. In 1829, the Freeman's Journal noted that Ballymun was a popular place for duels. The area known as Stormanstown is named after Lord Stormingston who was granted land in Ballymun by Henry VIII, with the original Stormanstown House which was built in the early 18th century. This tiled mansion was demolished in 1823, and another house of the same name replaced it. This house was used by the Albert Agricultural College as offices in the 20th century until it was demolished in 1970. Another house called Stormanstown on the corner of Glasnevin Avenue and Ballymun Road was the former residence of Brian O'Higgins. It too was demolished in the 1970s. In 1964, in a response to this housing crisis in inner city areas of the capital, plans were made to build high rise flat complexes; construction started in 1966 and were completed by the following year. The seven 15 storey towers were named after Irish Republican revolutionaries, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising. The flat complexes consisted of five 8 storey "districts" (Balbutcher, Balcurris, Coultry, Shangan and Sillogue) and three 4 storey "districts," two of which were part of Shangan and Sillogue, the third being located in Sandyhill. The Poppintree area of Ballymun was constructed in the late 1970s.

Some social problems occurred in the early years, as families which had grown up in dense city terraces close to Dublin's retail core, found themselves at the edge of the city, with few amenities beyond a small and expensive travelling "van shop". Over time, Ballymun became notorious for a number of social problems, such as drug abuse and unemployment, and was impacted by negative media coverage of the area. At the same time, a wide range of local community organisations emerged, for particular areas and towers, and for purposes such as small enterprise support, anti drugs campaigning and community project support. The current Ballymun district is not substantially in the townland historically called "Ballymun" — instead, it occupies several nearby townlands, the most significant of which is Stormanstown. Due to what were seen to be undesirable associations, some say that the area has shrunk since the completion of the tower blocks. For instance, in the early days of Dublin City University (DCU), then called NIHE, Dublin, this institution was sometimes referred to as being in Ballymun (part of the "Ballymun Project"), or sometimes in Whitehall, while today it is referred to and has a postal address in Glasnevin, even though it has not changed location. Indeed, much of the present day central Ballymun lies on lands once in the northern reaches of the Albert Agricultural College estate, the forerunner of the present day DCU. Streets have also been renamed — for example, Ballymun Avenue (which was previously Collins Avenue Extension) was renamed Glasnevin Avenue after a local plebiscite in the 1970s. The city architect commented in 2015 that the "killer blow" for Ballymun was the offering of a tenant purchase scheme in 1985, which gave good terms for local authority tenants to buy out their accommodation, but only if they had a house, not a flat, which led to many committed community members moving from Ballymun to be able to avail of the offer. This led to a "cycle of decline" and ultimately the need for a regeneration. The regeneration saw the loss of many shops, including the emptying of the only shopping centre, Ballymun Town Centre. This meant the 18,000 residents had to travel to other districts for major grocery, and virtually all non grocery, shopping. The plan for a replacement centre failed, and as of 2021, there is no central shopping facility.

During the regeneration and organisation, Breaking Ground, was set up as a "percent for art" scheme, and commissioned a wide range of projects, including prominent sculptures, and two headline projects, Hotel Ballymun and amaptocare. In 2007, a floor of the by then vacant Thomas Clarke Tower was temporarily transformed into a hotel as part of an art project; the project ran for a month and was heavily booked, with a waiting list. As part of the New Ballymun, a major tree planting project called amaptocare has been run, with more than 600 people sponsoring the planting of around 635 trees, and providing inscription texts which are engraved on plaques near the trees. Sponsors were informed that the all trees would be identified on a glass panel at Ballymun's central plaza; the plaza was completed by 2013, but the panel has, as of 2019, not yet been made. The most publicised sculpture was Misneach, which portrayed a young local woman on a horse, at 1.5 times life size. The model, Toni Marie Shields, was selected by public auditions, and 3D imaged in London. Designed to be placed centrally in the district, it was temporarily erected in front of the area's only secondary school, where, as of 2021, it remains.

In 2017, with the formal end of the regeneration, and the dissolution of Ballymun Regeneration Limited, 2,820 apartments had been replaced by just under 2,000 units of social housing, and 1,350 units of privately owned housing, mostly rented out. The area had moved from 80% of residents living in social housing to just under 60%, with one in eight in private rental, and 28% owner occupied. In July 2017, the City Council approved a Local Area Plan for the area, to govern future development. This plan provided for around 2,000 housing units, of which a significant percentage would be for sale, but with developers to be required to sell 10% to the council or an Approved Housing Body for social housing. The plan included guidance for 31 distinct sites, totalling 34 hectares, and including as a priority redevelopment of the almost derelict central shopping centre.

A multistorey hotel fire occurred in the building containing the Metro Hotel Dublin and two floors of apartments, on 21 March 2018. The fire broke out at approximately 8.00 pm and affected the top seven floors of the building. At least 12 units of Dublin Fire Brigade attended the building, and confirmed that the hotel was successfully evacuated. Dublin Fire Brigade reported soon after the fire was extinguished that there were no reports of any casualties or people unaccounted for. This included approximately 150 guests who were staying in the hotel. The fire broke out in a private residence on the 13th floor, above rooms for hotel guests. The 15 storey hotel and apartment building was built as part of the Ballymun renewal, developed in 2006 by Pierce Contracting and a group of investors who included businessman Paddy Kelly. The hotel was designed by Shay Cleary Architects for Pierse Contracting and was originally scheduled to open on 9 June 2006, and was operated by the Days Inn Hotel group. In 2007 a charter plane with 118 passengers and crew narrowly avoided crashing into the hotel after its pilot mistook the red lighting on the hotel's roof combined with its white internal light for the approach lights of a Dublin Airport runway. The incident occurred at 11.34 pm on the night of 16 August 2007, when the McDonnell Douglas jet was carrying 112 passengers and six crew on a charter flight from Lisbon to Dublin. In April 2014, the 88 bedroom Metro Hotel was put on the market in the region of €2.5 million. Along with the hotel, the sellers sought €3 million for the 30 two bed apartments on the upper floors of the property. In July 2016, planning permission was refused for the retention of masts and antennae on the hotel.

Ballymun is served by a number of Dublin Bus routes to the city centre including the numbers 4, 13 and the 155 while the Go Ahead Ireland route 220 runs between Mulhuddart and DCU Helix and the 220T runs from Finglas Garda station to Whitehall. The area was also envisaged to have an underground stop on the planned Metro North (Dublin city centre to Swords) line of the Dublin Metro. Plans for that have been revived with the Irish Government's 'Project Ireland 2040' scheme and the revised MetroLink concept. Journey time from Ballymun to the airport is estimated be around ten minutes by car, and to Dublin city centre 25–40 minutes.

There are a number of schools in each sub district, including a Gaelscoil (Irish speaking) primary school in the Coultry district and another on Main Street, opposite to Trinity Comprehensive which is the only secondary school in Ballymun; this was formerly known as Ballymun Comprehensive and split between boys on the North side and girls on the South side before a major reconfiguration in 2005.

In the earliest years of the area's development, it was served by "van shops", often criticised for limited selection and high prices. The area's only shopping centre, Ballymun Town Centre, was built as a central point for the whole community, and was the main source for shopping for over 40 years. It was owned by the City Council, and rented units on commercial terms, with, as of 1991, a rent roll of half a million euro, and service charge income of 300,000 euro. By that time, there were urgent calls from traders and locals for serious refurbishment, but it proved hard to progress these issues due to questions about who should fund any work. Redevelopment of the centre was a major element of the Ballymun Masterplan from 1997, and was to be private sector led. 53% of the centre and surrounding site was sold to major developer Treasury Holdings for 6 million pounds in 2000, with the local authority retaining the rest. As of 2000, the centre was to be redeveloped by 2005, but there were delays, and it was 2009, after financial crisis had struck Ireland, before the developer secured permission for a complex to be called Springcross, involving a planned investment of 800 million euro to provide more than 70 shopping and office units, cinema and other entertainments, dining facilities, a new public library branch, and a creche. Construction was planned for 2010, but by then the site had been taken over by NAMA, and the project was unable to proceed.

For decades, Ballymun's reputation was damaged by a high level of negative publicity in the media, usually focusing on crime and drugs, whilst ignoring positive news.

The 1992 film Into the West was set, and filmed, in Ballymun. Other fictional works that were set in the area were the 1994 drama mini series Family and the 1982 short film One Day Time .

Several documentaries of the area have been made throughout the years, notably during the regeneration. A film of the leisure centre by filmmakers Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy, LEISURE CENTRE, was made in 2007 and starred hundreds of Ballymun residents. A documentary film entitled Ballymun Lullaby was released in February 2011 and includes scenes detailing the regeneration of Ballymun as well as its impact on the culture of its populace. In 2018 The 4th Act looked back at the whole regeneration, with contextual material about the area's history; it had significant appearances from several community activists, and City Council and BRL officials, and the artists, Seamus Nolan and Jochen Gerz, who led the biggest Ballymun arts projects, Hotel Ballymun and amaptocare respectively. It also highlighted the compilation and even printing of the area's oral history project, which sponsor Ballymun Regeneration then refused to publish and distribute.

Bloody Sunday, a 2002 British Irish film written and directed by Paul Greengrass and based around the 1972 "Bloody Sunday" incident in Northern Ireland. The film was mostly shot in Ballymun, with some location scenes shot in Northern Ireland.