Donabate

There are five courses on the peninsula: The Island Golf Club, Beaverstown Golf Club, Balcarrick Golf Club, Donabate Golf Club (a 27-hole course) and Corballis Links Golf Club (a public course). The peninsula was once home to a sixth club, Turvey Golf Club, that has since closed. Many of these have views of the estuaries or the open sea, including links courses such as The Island, which is ranked as one of the top 20 courses in Ireland.[6]

St. Patrick's GAA (Cumann Lúthchleas Gael, Naomh Pádraig) club in Donabate dates from 1924. It is an active club with a membership of over 300 as of 2009.[7] The club play at Robbie Farrell Park, Ballymastone in Donabate. Gaelic Football and Hurling are played at adult level as well as at under-age levels from an expanding nursery section. The club colours are green and black.

St. Itas Athletic Football Club has been active in Donabate Portrane from the early 20th century. They currently play in the Leinster league and field many underage players. The main pitch is the grounds of the St Ita's Hospital and they also play on pitches in Portrane and Balcarrick Road. Club colours are green and white.

Portrane Athletic FC were the Dublin cup winners in 2012.

Chasing a Kite Donabate Beach

Although Ireland's east coast is not ideal for surfing, surfers are regularly seen at Donabate beach. Kayaking, sailing and wind surfing are popular water sports especially in the Broadmeadow estuary with access from Donabate and Malahide. There are marinas in Rush and Malahide. Kite surfing is rising in popularity on the beaches of Portrane, Rush and Skerries. The use of jet skis and fast powerboats is restricted by law in the estuaries and beaches and regulated by permit.[8]

Both Donabate and Portrane beaches are manned by lifeguards during the summer months. In 2009 Portrane beach was among several Irish beaches to lose its blue flag status for beach excellence due to poor water quality,[9] but subsequently regained blue flag status and from 2011 to 2015 had a status of Good or Excellent.[10]

Portrane Hockey club was founded in 1919 and plays in the Leinster senior league. The club suffered from the introduction of compulsory synthetic pitches in the 1990s as they were unable to continue using their grass pitch in St.Itas hospital. However, the club had remained active and hoped to move to an all-weather pitch on the site of the Secondary School scheduled for September 2010. But a flood caused the pitch to be unsafe for play. In 2015 the pitch was up and running again.

The hunter trials of the Ward Union Hunt are held in Corballis Donabate.[11]

The cliffs between Donabate and Portrane have recently become known as a site for bouldering[12]

Newbridge House, Donabate

Donabate has a fine historical "Big House and Estate" at Newbridge Demesne. Newbridge House is a Georgian mansion built for Charles Cobbe, Archbishop of Dublin in 1736. It sits on 370 acres (150 ha) of eighteenth-century landscape parklands with perimeter woodland belts and fine vistas across lawns and wildflower meadows. The estate was bought by Fingal County Council in a unique arrangement with the Cobbe family in 1985 and is now a public park, playground and model farm, while the family continue to maintain an apartment within the main building on a part-time basis.[13] The park is a popular recreational area all year round, and also contains playing pitches used by local sports clubs.

Newbridge House was a location for the 1965 film The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (film).[14] In 2009 a previously unrecognised rare portrait of William Shakespeare was found to have been hanging in the drawing-room of the house.[15]

The Farm at Newbridge can be found to the west and north of Newbridge House and beside the Walled Garden. Between 1989 and 1990 the County Council Parks Department undertook the renovation, reconstruction and restoration of the Courtyard, Haggard and adjoining buildings restoring it to its 19th-century Victorian character. A wide range of farm animals and fowl are now housed here, including many rare or show breeds, and it is a popular visitor attraction.

Donabate has a vibrant Transition Town movement. There are currently a number of projects running in the Donabate area including a local weekly food market, and also to transform the disused St Ita's Gardens & Farm into a working community farm and orchard.[16]

Rogerstown Estuary is an important wetland habitat. It has several designations in recognition of this including that of Statutory Nature Reserve. Bird Watch Ireland owns land on both north and south shores of the inner estuary and played a large role in preserving the area in its natural state in spite of its proximity to large urban areas by purchasing tracts of land and entering into management agreements with the Council and landowners.[19] The Fingal Branch of Bird Watch Ireland operates two hides in Rogerstown which are wardened at weekends during certain times of the year.

Broadmeadow Estuary, like the Rogerstown Estuary, is designated a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Special Protection Area (SPA).[20] The estuary has an internationally important population of Brent Goose and nationally important populations of other species of birds.

Donabate train station signage

Donabate railway station, in the centre of the town, is on the Dublin–Belfast mainline and is served by Northern Commuter line trains between Dublin and Dundalk. The Transport 21 infrastructure plan envisaged electrification north of Malahide and through Donabate as far as Balbriggan by 2015, though this was subsequently indefinitely deferred.

On 21 August 2009 the 18:07 train from Balbriggan to Connolly was passing over the viaduct when the driver noticed subsidence and the embankment giving way on the northbound track.[21] The train passed over the bridge before it collapsed and the driver alerted authorities.[21] A major catastrophe was avoided but commuters faced significant subsequent disruption.

The R126 regional road, connecting Portrane to the R127 and the M1 motorway, runs through the town. Go-Ahead Ireland service 33B from Swords to Portrane and Dublin Bus service 33D from Custom House Quay to Portrane serve Donabate. During the morning peak times some service 33 routes serve Donabate.