Darndale

The area originally comprised farmlands in the northern part of the civil parish of Coolock, and took its name from either a large house situated to the west of Malahide Road or from the townland of the same name. It was intensively developed by Dublin Corporation in recent decades.

Located to the north-east of Dublin city, Darndale is bordered to the east by the Malahide Road, to the north by the R139, to the west by Priorswood, and to the south by the Riverside housing estate in Coolock. It comprises the housing estates of Buttercup Park, Marigold Court, Primrose Grove, Snowdrop Walk and Tulip Court.

Darndale is accessible by the Malahide Road and the R139 (via the old Clonshaugh Road), and also via the Greencastle Road. It is within 3 km of Dublin Airport. It is served by Dublin Bus.

Darndale has a planned village centre which contains a newsagents/off licence, pharmacy and take-away restaurant. Within the village centre is Darndale Belcamp Integrated Childcare Services (known locally as the Jigsaw Centre); one of largest community childcare centres in Ireland and a HSE Primary Care Unit which provides a doctors surgery, baby nurse and community welfare supports to the local community.

The main building in the Darndale Belcamp Village Centre is the Bell Building, designed by Michael O'Shea, which is a unique and collective combination of integrated community services operating in and around a multipurpose building. The Bell Building provides many services to the local community including adult education, youth training, information and support, older people support services, environmental programmes and administration and job seeking services to the local community.[1]

There is a large traveller community located close to Darndale, by the R139, and in a separate compound, Traveller school facilities. This site is mentioned in Christy Moore's song, Go Move Shift.

Immediately adjacent is the large Clare Hall Shopping Centre (anchored by Tesco Ireland), a Topaz petrol station and a Hilton Hotel (the "Dublin Airport Hilton"). There are also several other amenities in the area including an Odeon Cinema, Leisure Plex, several fast food restaurants, community sports hall, community gym and an industrial estate directly across from the main road into Darndale.

Since around 2004, Darndale has also had an unusual leisure amenity - a substantial fishing pond located in the local park, built in cooperation with the Eastern Regional Fisheries Board. In 2011 this underwent a massive cleanup operation, organised by local resident Michael O'Shea, to remove a large amount of weed which had grown in the pond, making it unusable.

Darndale, along with the neighbouring Belcamp housing development, forms a parish in the Roman Catholic church.[2] The parish is in the Fingal South East deanery of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.

Since September 2014, a documentary-series about the housing estate, named Darndale: The Edge of Town aired on TV3 and also in March 2015 it featured on 'The Benefits Estate' a reality documentary-series on Channel 5 in the UK.

The Irish crime film Cardboard Gangsters, 2017, was based in Darndale.