Moving home - Castleknock v Portmarnock

[Charbead49]

Moving to Dublin after 11 years in London. Have 3 small DC, 3, 2 and 6 months. Not originally from Dublin (n.irish) so trying to look at an area and have narrowed it to these two due to family reasons (close to blanchardstown and clontarf) Any views on what could work best for transport, nursery, schools, housing stock etc? Thanks

Both areas have advantages. Both areas seem nice and settled.

Portmarnock has the beach and is close to Malahide Park and the airport.

Will you be commuting for work?

I live close to Castleknock. Also know Portmarnock well.

Transport-links wise, Castleknock is much better (but with more people wfh maybe not as much of an issue).

Castleknock has great schools, nice community, loads of activities for kids, especially GAA but everything really. Phoenix Park is great (even if we are a tad tired of all our walks being there for the past year!)

Housing v pricey. Even in the recession, never really came down.

Portmarnock great re beaches & people I know who live there really love it.

Houses will be somewhat more affordable (tho not cheap of course)

Good luck - either would be great for a young family.

Thank you for your replies. Currently I don't think there will be much of a commute although husbands office is in ballsbridge.

Eek, I wouldn't do Portmarnock to Ballsbridge in normal times BUT it seems unlikely anyone office-based is going back to full-on office based work any time soon.

So as long as wfh is an option, even some of the time, you should be fine in either place.

2 lovely areas to choose from. Either place would be a lovely place to live.
I live in Blanchardstown so I am familiary with Castleknock. It's a good area, good public transport, schools, shops, clubs, sports etc. The Pheonix park is right on the doorstep and it's close to Dublin City centre as well as the M50 for access to the rest of the country.
and Portmarnack is by the sea which is amazing so good luck deciding.

I don't know anything about Castleknock so will stick to Portmarnock only.

In relation to the commute, portmarnock is on the dart so not a major issue, other than parking at the station.

For primary schools, you generally just need to live in the local area the January before starting JI. The secondary is Portmarnock Community School which is a mixed school and has a good reputation. There is no concept of "putting your name down" for schools in north Dublin from my experience as is (or used to be) the case in south Dublin.

A lot of house have been built in Portmarnock in the last few years which will be a good thing as loads of young families in the area but might mean issues getting into schools. Although there is a new ET secondary school.

It can be really hard to get a house on Dublin (both renting and buying) so if I were you I wouldn't just stick to Portmarnock but look at the wider area (Malahide/Balgriffin and then also Howth/Sutton/Baldoyle/Raheny) to get a good feel for what you get for your money in the wider areas. All of these areas are on the dart.