17-07-2025
Forty years of Ballymun captured in video collection
A collection of more than 40 years of camera footage telling the story of Ballymun has been launched.
'Ballymun Community Films' tells the story of the unique community that is now available free-to-view worldwide on the IFI Archive Player.
Ballymun, which was established in 1967 to ease overcrowding in Dublin's city centre, became Ireland's first and largest high-rise housing development.
While often defined by its social challenges in media coverage, the team behind the project said the films illustrate how Ballymun is also a place of "extraordinary community spirit, creativity, and resilience".
"We are delighted that this collection will be made accessible by Ballymun communications to the entire community," said IFI Archive Policy and Project Manager Niall Anderson, a Ballymun native who managed the project at the IFI.
The films provide insights into the life of Ballymun: its arts and music scene, community-led education and employment initiatives, the slow decline of its town centre, and the sweeping regeneration project that dramatically reshaped the area.
Outlining the community involvement in the five year archiving process to date, Mr Anderson said "if one of our cataloguers couldn't identify a person or location in a film, we turned it over to community groups online, and within an hour we'd have our answer".
Primarily made by local residents through the training initiative and social enterprise Ballymun Communications, more than 1,000 hours of their community-made footage has been digitised and catalogued.
Ollie McGlinchey, long time resident and mainstay of Ballymun Communications said Ballymun Communications was established as a counterpoint to mainstream media misrepresentations of the Ballymun community and to highlight the "multitude of positive news stories emanating from a resilient and vibrant working class community".
The digitisation and preservation of the Ballymun Communications Archive was supported by Coimisiún na Meán, and Mr Anderson said that the project is a "powerful reflection" of the IFI's core mission to preserve the film heritage of Ireland.
"This project ensures that future generations can engage with, learn from, and be inspired by the lived experiences of communities like Ballymun," he said.
Launching this evening at Axis Ballymun, there will be special screenings, live performances and the local community who appear in the films and programmes will be in attendance.
