The Joseph Plunkett Tower of the Ballymun flats, the last left standing, is going to be demolished on Monday, 21 September from 10am. The removal of the tower comes almost two decades after the regeneration of the Ballymun area began.
The scheme was built from 1965 to 1969 to house people who were cleared from the inner-city slums. When finished the development consisted of 36 blocks of flats, seven of 15 storeys, 19 of eight storeys and 10 of four storeys.
The Joseph Plunkett Tower was built in 1967 and was the last of the seven 15-storey towers to be completed, with 90 two and three bedroom flats. The project was quickly erected with little consideration from the government with regard to amenities and transport. Poor planning resulted in high crime rates.
More than 2,000 homes were built in Ballymun as part of the regeneration scheme which began in 1997. Demolition of the towers did not begin until 2004.
Joseph Plunkett Tower will be taken down by using a long reach hydraulic “nibbler” which will bite its way through the structure over a period of weeks.