Ballymun is a public housing scheme that was built in the late sixties and early seventies at a time when there were massive shortages in both public and private housing in Dublin.  As the only tower-block development ever undertaken by the government of the Republic, Ballymun represents a once-off experiment in building mass public housing in Ireland.

The original vision for Ballymun was that it would be a state-of-the-art and ultra-modern town within the city limits. Indeed, the Government's vision of Ballymun was as a flagship project in the increasingly industrialised economy of Ireland and as a symbol of Ireland's evolution into a modern European state.

The original plans for this “new town” included the entire infrastructure that a large town might feature - shops, cinemas, leisure facilities, doctors clinics, and so on. In the event, the only shops that were built were in the centrally located Shopping Centre, and it took a sustained campaign by the local community to ensure that the promised swimming pool was built (again in the Shopping Centre) almost ten years after the housing phase was completed.

By the mid-1970's, it was apparent that Ballymun was not living up to the least of the expectations that the Government and the public may have had.  By the late 1990's, the Government had conceded that the great social housing experiment in Ballymun had failed and that the problems associated with this failure needed radical solutions. 

A consistent lack of investment in the maintenance and development of Ballymun over 25 years led to serious degeneration of the physical environment. A pilot project to refurbish one 15-storey and two 8-storey blocks of flats was initiated in 1987 and completed in 1993.  By 1996, on the basis of the evaluation of the pilot phase, the decision had been taken to demolish the remaining flats and build low-rise housing on-site. 

The planned regeneration of Ballymun offers the opportunity to rectify many mistakes made in the first attempt and to learn from mistakes made in numerous other “satellite towns” where large concentrations of public housing without supporting infrastructure have led to the development of sprawling ghettos of serious disadvantage.

As noted by a 1997 Work Research Centre (WRC) report on the social and economic status of Ballymun, population decline can indicate significant social changes. It appears from the Census data that the most significant social changes in Ballymun are the decrease in actual numbers of young people between 1991 and 1996 and the increase in numbers of lone parent families in the same period.

A detailed analysis of population changes between 1991 and 1996 shows that every age cohort has decreased over this period but there has been a particularly noticeable decrease in the numbers of young adults and children living in the area. This decline in numbers of young people suggests the out-movement of two-parent families from Ballymun, which is supported by two other statistics from the 1996 Census data.

The second set of statistics that illuminate the changing gender profile of Ballymun are those revealing significant changes in household structure.  Between 1991 and 1996, the total number of households increased from 4,828 to 5,044.  Within this increase, there has been what the WRC describe as a “substantial shift” in the types of households in the area.

By 1996, the proportion of households made up of couples with children had fallen to less than 35% while lone-parent households had increased to just over 37% of all households in Ballymun.  This sharp increase in the number of households headed by lone parents is illustrated in the following table:

Households headed by lone parents have now become the most prevalent household type in Ballymun.  When expressed as a proportion of households with children, lone-parent households increased from 40.7% in 1991 to 51.7%  - a majority of households with children – in 1996.

The proportional increase of lone-parent families in Ballymun in part reflects the decrease in numbers of two-parent families living in the area.  However, there has also been an increase in the actual numbers of lone-parent families living in Ballymun that may be the result of a number of underlying factors suggested by the Census data:

There is a high rate of single parenthood amongst young girls. The Census data provides no direct information on this matter, but the number of women over the age of 15 who are single increased from 2,636 to 3,006 between 1991 and 1996.

There is a high rate of marital breakdown within Ballymun.Between 1991 and 1996 the number of women over the age of 15 who are separated increased from 616 to 702.  The number of widows also increased from 264 to 319.  

A breakdown of the age range of children living in one-parent families strongly indicates a high level of young people, overwhelmingly young women, with children:

As a result of the changes in household structure in Ballymun, by 1996 over 46% of all children were being reared in lone parent households, the vast majority of which are headed by women:

Of the 7,520 people active in the labour force, 2,849 were either unemployed or seeking their first job. This represents an unemployment rate of 37.9%.This compares extremely poorly with both the official national figure of 8.7% or the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed estimate of 18% unemployment nationally. The rate for Ballymun would be slightly higher if calculated for the public housing areas only – the above figures include a number of privately owned housing estates that neighbour the flats complex.

In any event, an unemployment rate of 37.9% is one of the highest in any community in the country and almost five times the official national average for unemployment.

Ongoing research over the past decade points to a consistent pattern of problems for the schools in Ballymun resulting in low educational attainment among the young people attending local schools which is reflected in the following comparative analysis of education participation rates in 1991:

The WRC reports that early school leaving patterns in Ballymun are consistently higher than national or City averages and participation rates in higher education are chronically low. A study of education and training among unemployed people in 1994 revealed the following comparison of educational attainment between unemployed people in Ballymun and the rest of the country:

Local research in 1996 estimated that less than 25% of children attending schools in Ballymun complete the senior cycle. None of the Traveller children living in the area (principally at St. Margaret’s Travellers site) attend the secondary schools in the area. If they do undertake further education beyond primary level, it is at one of two specialist training centres for Travellers

The extent of dependency on welfare from payments such as Lone Parents Allowance, Disability Allowance, Training Allowances and so on is at least equal to the level of dependency on payments from Unemployment Assistance or Benefit.  (Only those in receipt of Unemployment Assistance or Benefit are counted for the purposes of the Live Register or for the purpose of calculating the official unemployment figures.) 

The scale of welfare dependency in Ballymun, particularly in the flats, is revealed by two stark indicators: 

 71% of Corporation households depend on social welfare as their only source of income, and just 16% of Corporation tenants draw any income from employment.

Professional addiction counsellors and Drugs Workers in the area estimate that there are between 350 and 400 intravenous drug users in the area who have not presented for any kind of treatment. There is also serious concern among these workers and many other professionals and volunteers working with young people about an increasing number of young Ballymun people who are regularly smoking heroin.

While there is no doubt that opiate abuse is a significant and serious problem in Ballymun, alcohol addiction is arguably a greater problem. Again, while there are no official statistics about alcohol abuse in the area, it is the experience of local professionals and volunteers that it plays a huge role in the difficulties experienced by the most marginalised families and young people.