Swords, Dublin

Swords is the county town of Fingal in Ireland. It is about 13 km north of Dublin city centre and is part of its commuter belt. The name "Swords" may also be applied to the townland, the civil parish or to the local electoral area. At the 2011 census the total urban population of greater Swords was 42,738.

Fingal County Council's Strategic Vision for Swords is to create a sustainable new city. They have referred to Swords as an "emerging city" and project that the population of Swords will rise towards 100,000 by the year 2035.

In 2012, Swords was named the third best town in Ireland to live in. The survey conducted by Retail Excellence Ireland took into account safety, retail, dining, entertainment, events, car parking and overall attractiveness of the town. Since the mid-1990s Swords has seen improvements in shop fronts, public buildings and footpaths and the restoration of Swords Castle. In 2003 the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) Survey scored Swords the worst litter blackspot in the country. Following a huge improvement to litter in the town, in their 2011 survey Swords was declared the second cleanest town in Ireland.

History
The town's origins date back to 560 AD when it was founded by Saint Colmcille (521-567). Legend has it that the saint blessed a local well, giving the town its name, Sord, meaning "clear" or "pure". However, An Sord also means "the water source" and could indicate a large communal drinking well that existed in antiquity. St. Colmcille's Well is located on Well Road off Swords Main Street. Sord may also refer to a "sward", an 'expanse of grass'.

In 1994, Swords became the county seat of the new county of Fingal after the breakup of the former County Dublin; in 2001, it also became the administrative centre for Fingal, upon the completion of Fingal's County Hall.

In June 2006, the R.N.L.I. Ireland officially opened its new all-Ireland headquarters at Airside Business Park, within greater Swords. The new Irish H.Q. was officially opened by Her Excellency President Mary McAleese. In attendance at this Presidential ceremony was Admiral Sir Jock Slater, R.N., a former British First Sea Lord then serving as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the R.N.L.I..

Cleanliness
The cleanliness of Swords has hugely improved in recent years. In 2003 the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) Survey scored Swords the worst litter blackspot in the country. Following a huge improvement to litter in the town, in their 2011 survey Swords was declared the second cleanest town in Ireland.

Historical society
Swords Historical Society was founded in 1982, and its volunteers have worked to record, promote and preserve all aspects of the heritage of the greater Swords area. The Society’s Museum and Heritage Centre at the Carnegie Library on North Street is run by volunteers and is open weekdays from 1 p.m. to 4.30p.m. There is a fascinating collection of old photos and artefacts on display and their oral history project has produced the annual ‘Swords Voices’ publication. Now in its eighteenth year the publications have chronicled the memories of local people, thus creating a unique social history of the area.



Landscape
Swords is situated roughly in the centre of the county of Fingal. The Ward River, from Meath, runs west to east to near the centre of the town, and then turns to run north, before flowing into the Broad Meadow Water or Broadmeadow River. The Broadmeadow, also from Meath, borders the north of the town. It runs from Dunshaughlin in the west and across the north of Swords, before receiving the Ward and flowing into the wide Broadmeadow Estuary, then into the Irish Sea past Malahide. The estuary is crossed by a railway embankment and bridge from Malahide.

Swords is surrounded by a green belt. Dublin Airport has prevented the town from expanding further south and the large Broadmeadow Estuary and town of Malahide limit expansion further east. To the north and west of Swords there is sparsely-populated, relatively flat, farmland.

Townlands and baronies
Swords Demesne is the name of the townland in the heart of the urban town of Swords. It is one of 58 such geographic units in the civil parish of Swords. The parish is one of seven such parishes in the barony of Nethercross, although part of the parish lies in the neighbouring Barony of Coolock. There are 10 townlands in the electoral division of Swords which is not co-terminous with the parish.

Urban layout
The main retail area is located in the centre of the town, and includes the Main Street, with the Pavilions and Swords Central shopping centres, Swords Plaza and Swords Town Mall. Most civic faciities are also in this central area, with some subsidiary shopping and civic centres in surrounding housing areas.

The west of the urban area is mainly residential, with the neighbourhoods of Applewood, Rathbeale and Brackenstown to the north of the Ward River and Knocksedan, River Valley, Rathingle and Boriomhe to the south side of the river.

The main business and industrial areas are located to the east of the town centre, along the R132 dual carriageway. These include Balheary Industrial Park, Swords Business Campus, Swords Business Park, and the Airside campus (Business Park, Retail Park and Motor Park). The neighbourhoods of Seatown, Holywell and Drynam are also to the east of the town core.

Climate
The climate of Swords is, like the rest of Ireland, classified as a maritime temperate climate (Cfb) according to the Köppen climate classification system. It is mild and changeable with abundant rainfall and a lack of temperature extremes. The hottest months of the year are June, July and August with temperatures of around 17 - 20 degrees. Swords gets rainfall all year round and the wettest months are October to January.

Demographics


Swords has developed into one of the largest urban areas in Ireland. The town's population boom began in the 1970s with the construction of the sprawling Rivervalley Estate, then Ireland's largest private housing development, ahead of Kilnamanagh Estate in Tallaght North. It continued during the 1990s and 2000s, with many new residents moving to the area due to its proximity to work at Dublin Airport and various industrial estates.

At the 2011 census the total urban population of greater Swords was 42,738. This wider area of Swords had a population density in 2011 of 3765/km2, making it the most densely populated urban area in Ireland.

Fingal County Council have referred to Swords as an "Emerging City", and have suggested that the town's (or city's) population may reach 100,000 by 2035.

Formal status question
Unlike most large towns in Ireland, Swords does not have a town council and so any legal boundaries. Within Greater Dublin, Tallaght (originally a small country village) and Clondalkin (a monastic settlement turned small town), built up deliberately as "new towns", have similar issues.

Towns which do not have legal boundaries are classified as Census Towns for statistical reasons and are assigned boundaries by the Central Statistics Office, purely for statistical use. However, when the CSO assigned boundaries to the Swords "census town" they excluded the Drynam and Holywell housing estates, and considered them as a separate census town of "Kinsealy-Drinan". The "Swords" "census town" had a population of 36,924 (the third largest such unit in Ireland), and the "Kinsealy-Drinan" "census town" had a population of 5,814. The two census towns are part of the same broad urban area, and are both within the "Swords development boundary" as defined by Fingal County Council. When put together they have a total population of 42,738, well ahead of Irelands "official" largest town, Drogheda (38,578). The reason that two census towns were identified is probably because of an area of undeveloped land between them at Barryparks. This land has been left undeveloped because Fingal County Council has reserved it for commercial use to allow Swords develop its own "city centre." There is an issue with the CSO's own guidelines which say that borders will be extended to include all occupied dwellings within 100 metres of an existing building. According to the CSO's own SAPMAP viewer, there is definitely less than 100 meters between the two "census towns," down to only 10 metres at one point. This problem can't be resolved until at least the next census in 2016, although it could also be resolved by applying legal boundaries to Swords, covering the entire developed urban area.

Roads
Swords has good road links due to its proximity to Dublin city, which is the main focus for the Irish road network. The M1 Dublin-Belfast motorway (currently being widened to six lanes) passes along the eastern edge of the town and is the main route to/from Dublin City, Drogheda, Dundalk and Northern Ireland. The M50 Dublin semi-orbital motorway passes to the south of the town and provides connections with all of the other main roads out of Dublin (N2, N3, N4, N7, N81 and M11). The R132 dual-carrigeway by-passes the centre of Swords, and runs south to Dublin Airport and north to Balbriggan. The proposed Swords Western Ring Road dual carrigeway will run from the M1 at Lissenhall, north of Swords, along the western edge of Swords to the M2 motorway at Cherryhound. It will improve access to the western side of Swords and will also create a full ring road. Other main roads from Swords include the R106 to Malahide and Portmarnock, R108 to Ballyboughal and Naul, R125 to Ashbourne and the M2 motorway, R126 to Donabate and Portrane and R127 to Lusk and Skerries.

Bus
The town's Main Street is served by over 600 scheduled bus services daily, notably on Dublin Bus routes 33, 33a, 33b, 33n, 41, 41a, 41b, 41c, 41n, 41x, 43, and 102, Bus Eireann route 101, Swords Express and Urbus route 001. Buses operate between Swords and Dublin city centre approximately every 5 minutes throughout the day, through a combination of Dublin Bus routes 33, 41, 41b, 41c, 41n, 41x & 43, with a journey time of about an hour. The Swords Road Quality Bus Corridor is the busiest in the country, with buses operating on average every 58 seconds during peak times. Swords Express operate express services through the Dublin Port Tunnel which take about 35 minutes. Other buses serving Swords include Dublin Bus route 102 to Malahide, Portmarnock and Sutton, route 33b to Donabate and Portrane, routes 33 and 33a to Lusk, Rush, Skerries, and Balbriggan and Bus Eireann route 101 to Balbriggan, Julianstown and Drogheda.

There are a large range of long distance bus services from the Atrium Road and Coach Park in Dublin Airport to various locations throughout the country operated by Bus Eireann and other private companies, including 50 daily services to Belfast (route 1/X2 & Aircoach ), 12 to Derry (route 33 & John Mc Ginley ), 11 to Letterkenny (route 32 & John Mc Ginley), 9 to Donegal (route 30), 3 to Sligo (route 23), 1 to Ballina (route 22), 52 to Galway (route 20, Citylink & gobus ), 14 to Limerick (route 12 & JJ Kavanagh ), 24 to Cork (GoBé & Aircoach), 6 to Clonmel (JJ Kavanagh), 21 to Waterford (route 4/X4 & JJ Kavanagh) and 31 to Wexford (route 2, Ardcavan & Wexford Bus ).

Rail
Swords currently has no railway services. The nearest railway stations are Malahide Station and Donabate Station. Malahide is served by the frequent Dublin area rapid transit service to Bray, through the city centre. Both Malahide and Donabate are served by Dublin - Drogheda commuter services.

Metro
The Dublin - Swords route is currently the busiest bus corridor in the country, and there are plans for a new light rapid transit line along the route. The future Metro North line is proposed to run from St Stephen's Green in Dublin City Centre to Swords via the Mater Hospital, Drumcondra Railway Station, Dublin City University, Ballymun and Dublin Airport. Due to the current financial situation, the €2.5 billion project has been deferred, to be reconsidered should funding become available. 2011 was originally set as the completion date but it is now not expected to even start construction until 2015 at the earliest. It was planned to carry over 34 million passengers a year and have capacity for 20,000 passengers an hour in each direction. Trains would run up to every 2 minutes during peak times.

Three stops have been proposed in or near the Swords area:
 * Estuary - at the edge of Balheary Park, would serve passengers for north Swords and the Applewood and Balheary areas
 * Swords - planned to run in the median of the R132 adjacent to the Pavilions Shopping Centre and Barrysparks future development lands, would serve passengers for the town centre and Brackenstown and Swords Manor areas
 * Fosterstown - adjacent to Airside Retail Park, would serve passengers in River Valley / Boroimhe / Holywell areas - would also include a 300-space "park-and-ride" facility
 * Airport - between Terminals 1 and 2 in Dublin airport, to serve air passengers and workers

A further three stops were originally proposed but were refused planning permission. The reasons were mainly because of a lack of development in the area, so these stops could possibly be built in the future following development in the relevant areas:
 * Belinstown - originally proposed to include a 3000-space "park-and-ride" facility just off the M1, for passengers travelling from places north of Swords
 * Lissenhall - north of Estuary stop
 * Seatown - between Estuary and Swords stops, refused becaused Estuary and Swords stops were considered close enough for passengers

Belinstown was originally proposed as the location for the metro depot, which would have created a lot of jobs for the Swords area. But planning permission was refused for all of the line north of the Estuary Stop, including the depot. It is now proposed to locate the depot in Dardistown, south of Dublin Airport.

Dublin Airport
Dublin Airport, the main airport in Ireland, is located at Collinstown, several kilometres to the south of Swords. The airport has direct flights to Britain, Europe, North America, North Africa and the Middle East. Aer Lingus and Ryanair are the largest operators from the airport. In 2011, 18.7 million passengers passed through the airport, making it the busiest on the island airports by total passenger traffic. There are approximately 50 daily departures from Dublin to all six London airports (Stansted, Luton, Gatwick, Heathrow, London City and Southend). The Dublin - London air route is the busiest city pair in Europe. There are over 40 daily departures to other UK airports.

Knocksedan Heliport
Knocksedan Heliport is a private heliport on the western side of Swords, run by Celtic Helicopters. The heliport has four hangers and they provide a helicopter wash facility and Jet A1 Fuel. Irish Helicopters also use the heliport. They provide aerial crane, filming and survey services, helicopter charter and maintenance, spraying and special project services.

Features and historical attractions
Some historical attractions are listed below. Many of these are promoted by Swords Historical Society.

Swords Castle
Swords Castle was built as the manorial residence of the 1st Archbishop of Dublin, John Comyn, around 1200 or a little later in Swords, just north of Dublin. It was never strong in the military sense, but covers a large pentagonal walled area of nearly 1.5 acres (6,000 m²) with a tower on the north, probably the Constable's residence, and an impressive gateway complex on the south. The warder may have occupied the quarters to the left of the gate, while to the right was the janitor's room with the priest's room overhead. The adjoining chapel, built in the late thirteenth century, was probably used as the Archbishop's private oratory.

Other buildings, recorded in an inquisition in 1326, have now vanished, including the great hall on the east side of the enclosure. The Archbishop abandoned Swords once a new palace was built at Tallaght in 1324 - a move no doubt encouraged by damage sustained during Bruce's campaign of 1317. The stepped battlements suggest some form of occupancy during the fifteenth century, but by 1583, when briefly occupied by Dutch Protestants, it was described as "the quite spoiled old castle". It was used as a garden in the nineteenth century and sold after the Church of Ireland was disestablished.

Swords Castle is undergoing a significant redevelopment and is intended to become a tourist attraction. The newly renovated castle was used as a film location for the production of TV series The Tudors in spring 2010. Swords Castle and Courtyard is open to the public from Monday to Friday by appointment only by calling 01 890 5600.

St. Colmcille’s Well
On Well Road, and also known as St. Columb's Well. In a locked chamber. Reputed to be where Swords got its name when St. Colmcille blessed the well of clear water, ‘Sord’ being the Irish for ‘clear or pure’.

St. Columba’s Church, Belfry & Round Tower
The round tower is the surviving remnant of St. Colmcille’s monastic settlement. The only remaining relic of the medieval church is its belfry, from c. 1300, which is open to the public in summertime, when fine days afford the visitor a view of four counties from the tower’s height. The original church is said to have fallen into ruin sometime in the seventeenth century. The new church of early Gothic style was built in 1811 on the foundations of the old. The Sexton’s Lodge is also of architectural interest and was built in 1870. The body of Brian Boru was said to have been brought there in 1014 to be waked after the Battle of Clontarf, while on the way to be buried in Armagh.

Old Vicarage
Dating from around 1730, now apartments with part of original building retained.

Old Borough School
Main Street, now a public house. It was built in 1809 with fund awarded after the Act of Union from the Borough of Swords was disenfranchised. Designed by noted architect of the time, Francis Johnston. The story of the school is well documented.

St. Colmcille’s RC Church
On Chapel Lane, a pre-Catholic Emancipation church built in 1827 on a site donated by James Taylor of Swords House. The graveyard contains many interesting headstones, including one for Andrew Kettle, who was known as "Parnell’s Righthand Man."

The Courthouse
North Street, built 1845 in Classical style, design by Alexander Tate.

Teachers’ Residences
North Street - built in 1890.

Carnegie Library
North Street, built in 1909. Redbrick building typical early 20th century. Now houses Swords Museum/Fingal Genealogy Centre.

Fingal County Hall
The award-winning modern Fingal County Hall by Bucholz McEvoy architects dominates the northern end of Main Street. It is built on the site of Swords House, the home of the Norman family of Taylors of Swords. Records show the family came there in the 13th century and built a ‘Mansion House’ in 1403.

Ward River Valley Park
The Ward River Valley Park is a linear park on the banks of the Ward River approaching town. It covers an area of 89 ha. (220 acres) between Swords town centre and Knocksedan Bridge. Features of interest include some 12th-century fortifications, woodland habitats, wetlands and rolling grassland. There are viewing points, picnic sites, sports pitches and tennis courts.

Swords Town Park (with Swords Castle)
Swords Town Park is a small park situated in the centre of the town of Swords, along the Ward River. It has tennis courts and a playground. Swords Castle lies within the park. It is the former residence of the Archbishop of Dublin and it is the only fortified residence of the Archbishop to survive in a reasonable state today (see above).

Balheary Park
Balheary Park is north of the town centre near the confluence of the Broadmeadow River and the Ward River, which flow, respectively, on the northern and southern edges of the park. It meets Swords Business Campus / Balheary Business Park on three sides, and has some playing pitches which are used by St. Colmcille's GAA club. In mid-2006, Fingal County Council built a skatepark and adjoining basketball courts/football court in Balheary Park. The park contains a bowl, a vertwall, a spine, some quarterpipes, and a section of boxes in the middle of the park.

Broadmeadow River Linear Park
The Broadmeadow Linear Park is a small park north of Applewood along the Broadmeadow River. Fingal County Council plan to extend the park eastwards to Balheary Park and westwards into the proposed Swords Regional Park.

Proposed Swords Regional Park
A 65 ha. new regional park for Swords is to be formed north-east of Swords, stretching from the Rathbeale Road to the Broadmeadow River. The park will be immediately west of Oldtown and adjoining and ultimately extending into the Broadmeadow River Valley Linear Park. The Park will serve Swords and its hinterland, and will comprise active recreational and passive activities, commensurate with the Council’s vision for the emerging city of Swords.

National Show Centre
A little south of Swords, the National Show Centre is a modern exhibition and conference venue near to Dublin Airport. It is owned by the Irish Kennel Club, who use it as their main venue for dog shows in Ireland.

GAA
There are three GAA clubs located in Swords:
 * Fingallians, Lawless Memorial Park
 * St Colmcille's, Holybanks, Glen Ellan Road
 * St. Finians, River Valley

Golf
There are several golf courses close to the town, namely Swords Open Golf Course, Forest Little Golf Club, Roganstown Golf and Country Club and Balheary "Par 3" Golf Course. There are also several driving ranges in the area with the Drynam Golf Centre being the first Driving Range in the country with automated tees.

Boxing
Swords Boxing Club is located off Main Street. The club was established over 50 years ago and hosts many tournaments.

Fingal Boxing Academy is affiliated with the Irish Amateur Boxing Association, was the first boxing club in Ireland to train female boxers and has trained several national champions. The club is located in Rivervalley, Swords.

Orienteering
Fingal Orienteers have mapped the Ward River Valley park, and the surrounding estates of Swords Manor, Brackenstown, River Valley and Knocksedan, and regularly hold orienteering events in the area. They are also currently working on a new International Sprint Standard Orienteering map of the Applewood and Glen Ellan areas.

The Gathering Ireland 2013
Events which have been registered in the Swords area include:
 * 01/01 The Reunion
 * 03/01 Hardiman Clan meet in Dublin
 * 21/02 28th Aer Lingus Tenpin Bowling Tournament
 * 17/03 Saint Patrick's Day Parade
 * 17/03 Swords Castle Medieval Festival
 * 22/03 Alexander Technique Teachers Convention
 * 24/03 Lets taste the worlds' culture
 * 05/04 Scouting Ireland stage the 5th European Scout Symposium
 * 13/05 European Controllers Cup
 * 25/05 DAAFA 40th Anniversary Celebration
 * 15/06 The Allens and Cosgroves Gathering
 * 14/07 Fingal 10K Road Race 2013
 * 22/07 Brackenstown Scouts Annual Camp
 * 04/08 Irish Greyhound Gathering
 * 05/08 Fingal Horticultural Show
 * 25/08 Seaver Clan Reunion
 * 26/08 Irish Generations Open Golf Tournament
 * 13/09 Annual Gathering International Metamorphic Assoc
 * 13/09 International Metamorphic Technique Gathering
 * 14/09 Native Dogs of Ireland
 * 23/09 Gaisce International Residential Gathering
 * 05/10 Mc Cormack Clan
 * 10/10 ACI Committee Meeting
 * 20/12 Winter Solstice Festival

Fingal Horticultural Show
The Fingal Horticultural Society holds their annual flower show in Swords every August. It includes competition classes in Cut Flowers, Hanging Baskets, Pot Plants, Flower Arranging, Fruit, Vegetables, Cookery, Wine Making, Photography, Painting and Handcrafts, as well as special classes for children. The Fingal Horticultural Society also hold an annual Garden Competition, Allotment Competition and Pub Frontage Competition in Swords.

Flavours of Fingal Agricultural Show
The first Flavours of Fingal Show took place on the 21 and 22 July 2012 in Newbridge House near Donabate. The Flavours of Fingal Show combined the sights and sounds of an agricultural show. The farm section of the two-day show featured a program of livestock and sheep competitions, equestrian contests and other agricultural displays. Meanwhile the historic walled garden of Newbridge House hosted the food producers section of the show and features an array of favourite local delights, cooking demos and all things food in Fingal. Also on offer over the course of the weekend were family and musical entertainment and a programme of walks, talks and festival antics.

Dog shows
In 2012 over 80 dog shows were held in the National Show Centre. The Celtic Winners Dog Show, held on St. Patrick's Day, is the most prestigious dog show in the country.

Fingal 10k Road Race
The first ever Fingal 10k Road Race took place on 22 July 2012 around the streets of Swords. It was part of the Dublin Race Series and over 4200 people entered. Michael MacDiarmada was the winner in a time of 00:31:31 and Siobhan O' Doherty was the first woman over the line in a time of 00:35:30. The event went well and the organisers hope to run it again in 2013.

Hotels

 * Roganstown Hotel and Country Club ****
 * Carnegie Court Hotel ***
 * Kettle's Country House Hotel ***
 * Travelodge Dublin Airport North ***
 * Forty Four Main Street **

Retail
Swords is the home to a large retail and business park called Airside Retail and Business Park, on the southern fringe of the town, hosting many employers, including the European Headquarters of Kellogg's. Ingersoll Rand also has its corporate headquarters in the Airside Business Park. East of the town, running parallel to Swords bypass, lies the large Swords Business Park, where The Hertz Corporation have a Shared Services Centre.

Swords also has a wide range of shops, banks, pubs and other businesses. These include one very large modern shopping centre, the The Pavilions Swords, off the R132, the recent extension of which has a multi-screen cinema; it also has branches of Penneys, Superquinn and Dunnes Stores. Several smaller shopping centres also exist.

Aviation
Swords is the closest town to Dublin Airport and the airport has provided a lot of employment to the area. In 2011 the airport handled over 18.7 million passengers and served over 171 routes with 62 airlines. The airport serves as an operating base for Aer Lingus, Aer Lingus Regional, Air Contractors, CityJet, Orbest Orizonia Airlines, Ryanair and Thomson Airways, and as a maintenance base for Aer Lingus, CityJet, Dublin Aerospace, Eirtech Aviation, Etihad Airways and Ryanair.

The Irish Aviation Authority operate the Dublin Air Traffic Control Centre on the airport.

The headquarters of the Dublin Airport Authority and Ireland's four largest airlines are located in or near Swords. The Dublin Airport Authority, who manage Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airports, employ over 3,000 people and have their headquarters on the airport campus. Aer Lingus, Ireland's flag carrier, and Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost airline, have their headquarters on the Dublin Airport campus. CityJet, part of the Air France-KLM group, has its headquarters in Swords Business Campus and Air Contractors, part of the ASL Aviation group, has its head office on the Malahide Road in Swords.

Logistics
In 2007 Tesco Ireland opened their new €70 million distribution centre in Lanestown, between Swords and Donabate. With a building footprint of over 68,000 m² and a total volume of 1.55 million m³ the Tesco Ireland distribution centre is the largest building on the island of Ireland and the 8th largest building in the world. The building is over half a kilometre long and could fit 16 jumbo jets. It employs over 600 people and can process 1.5 million cases a week. It has 106 loading bays and supplies 106 stores up to 6 times a day.

Pharmaceutical
Swords is the home to several international chemical producers and pharmaceutical giants, including Opec. Merck Sharp & Dohme (formally Organnon) employ over 500 people in their facility in Drynam, which manufactures women's health, anaesthesiology and mental health products. Bristol Myers Squibb employ over 400 people in their Swords Laboratories bulk pharmaceutical plant on Watery Lane. The Lonza Group employ 45 people in their European manufacturing facility for personal care and industrial biocides, also on Watery Lane.

Food and Horticulture
Swords is located in the heart of Fingal, sometimes promoted as "the Food County," and is surrounded by farms growing various crops, including potatoes, wheat and barley. However unlike the rest of Fingal, a lot of the food distributed from Swords has been imported from abroad.

FoodCentral, marketed as "Ireland's national food park," is currently being developed south-west of Swords. When complete it will cover an area of 113 hectares.

The Keeling's Group, who employ over 1700 people, have their headquarters in FoodCentral and use a lot of land around Swords. The Keeling's Farms division annually grow 2,500 tonnes of soft fruits/berries from 5 hectares of glasshouse, tunnel and field crops in Swords. They grow Bramley apples in 139 acres of orchards and lettuce in 8 acres of glasshouses. Inside FoodCentral they have the only pepper growing facility in Ireland. Their 5 hectare high technology glasshouse produces 1,500 tonnes of red, orange, yellow and green peppers annually. The Keeling's Multiples Division have a 12,500 square metre refrigerated facility in FoodCentral. They operate a large banana ripening facility for Chiquita which ripens over 3 million bananas each week. They also have separate ripening rooms for "Ready to eat" lines, such as peaches, pears, plums and avacados.

Total Produce, Ireland's largest Agribusiness have two large facilities in Swords. Their facility in Swords Business Park includes a distribution and ripening centre for Fyffes Cape, Outspan, Green Ace and TOP Fruit products. Their "Uniplumo" facility on the Rathbeale Road, has 46,000 square metres of glasshouses for growing plants, flowers and tomatoes.

Primary
The town is served by twelve primary schools:
 * Gaelscoil Bhrian Boroimhe, Glen Ellan Road
 * Swords Educate Together National School, Glen Ellan Road
 * Thornleigh Educate Together National School, Applewood
 * St. Cronan's Junior National School, Brackenstown Road
 * St. Cronan's Senior National School, Brackenstown Road
 * Church of Ireland Old Borough National School, Church Road
 * St. Colmcille's Boys' National School, Chapel Lane
 * St. Colmcille's Girls' National School, Chapel Lane
 * Holy Family Junior National School, River Valley
 * Holy Family Senior National School, River Valley
 * Holywell Educate Together National School, Holywell Road
 * Scoil an Duinnigh, Drynam

Secondary
There are four secondary schools serving the town:
 * Loreto College (all-girls school), River Valley
 * Coláiste Choilm C.B.S. (all-boys school), Dublin Road
 * Fingal Community College, Seatown Road
 * St. Finian's Community College, Castlefarm

Other
There is also a Youthreach facility, a FÁS training centre, the Fingal Adult Literacy and Education Centre, a beauty college registered with ITEC & CIBTAC called Lenagh's College and an Institute of Business and Technology (IBAT College). Land has also been reserved for a potential future university campus in Lissenhall in north Swords.

Roman Catholic
Swords has six Roman Catholic churches. St. Colmcille's, the Church of the Visitation and Our Lady Queen of Heaven are all within Swords parish. St. Cronan's and St. Finian's each belong to distinct parishes, while the Church of the Immacuate Conception lies within Donabate parish.
 * St. Colmcille's Church, Chapel Lane
 * St. Cronan's Church, Brackenstown
 * St. Finian's Church, River Valley
 * Church of the Visitation, Drynam
 * Church of the Immacuate Conception, Balheary
 * Our Lady Queen of Heaven Chapel, Dublin Airport

Protestant

 * Anglican
 * St. Columba's Church of Ireland, Church Road


 * Baptist
 * Swords Baptist Church, Drynam (under construction - currently meeting in St. Finian's Community College)
 * Lighthouse Baptist Church, Seatown West


 * Other Protestant and evangelical
 * Apostolic Faith Church (meets in St. Columba's Parish Centre)
 * Churchtown Trust (prayer room under construction on Rathbeale Road)

Non-Chalcedonian

 * The Syriac Orthodox Church - a Non Chalcedonian denomination - meets as the St. Ignatius Jacobite Congregation in St Colomba's Church (Church of Ireland), Church Road, Swords

Non-Trinitarian

 * A Kingdom Hall for Jehovah's Witnesses- a Non trinitarian denomination - is located at Kettles Lane

Retreat centre

 * Emmaus Retreat and Conference Centre, Lissenhall (includes private chapel and 2 prayer rooms)

Notable residents

 * Eleanor Ambrose, Catholic heiress, is from Swords.
 * Conan Byrne, Irish footballer, is from Swords.
 * Ed Byrne, comedian, is from Swords.
 * Jason Byrne, comedian, lives in Swords.
 * Bill Cullen, businessman, presenter of TV show, "The Apprentice", owns and works in Europa Academy in Swords.
 * Paul Flynn, Dublin and Fingallians GAA player, lives in Swords.
 * Ronan Keating, singer-songwriter, lived in the Highfields residential development on the town's southern side.
 * Aidan McGrath, Irish Youth Activist, born in Swords.
 * Richard Montgomery, hero of the American revolution, born in Swords.
 * Blessed Francis Taylor, former Mayor of Dublin, martyr, born in Swords.
 * Eugene Masterson, journalist (Sunday World) and author, is from Swords