Naas

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Naas
an Nás / Nás na Ríogh
—  Town  —
View of the town and of Naas General Hospital

Seal
Motto: Prudens ut Serpens  (Latin)
The Wisdom of the Snake[1]
Naas is located in Ireland
Naas
Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 53°13′04″N 6°39′49″W / 53.21781°N 6.66373°W / 53.21781; -6.66373Coordinates: 53°13′04″N 6°39′49″W / 53.21781°N 6.66373°W / 53.21781; -6.66373
Country Ireland
Province Leinster
County County Kildare
Dáil Éireann Kildare North
Elevation 114 m (374 ft)
Population (2011)
 • Urban 20,713
Irish Grid Reference N893196
Website www.naas.ie

Naas (/ˈneɪs/; Irish: Nás na Ríogh, pronounced [n̪ˠaːsˠ n̪ˠə ɾˠiː], or An Nás [ən̪ˠ n̪ˠaːsˠ]) is the county town of County Kildare in Ireland. With a population of 20,713,[2] it is also the largest town in the North Kildare Suburban region.[citation needed] Naas is a major commuter suburb, with many people residing there and working in Dublin. The nearby N7 Naas Dual Carriageway connects Naas with Dublin and the M50 Motorway. The M7 Motorway Connects Naas with the South and South West.

Contents

History [edit]

The Irish language name for Naas, Nás na Ríogh literally means Meeting Place of the Kings, as the place historically hosted meetings of pre-Norman Irish kings from the Kingdom of Leinster.[citation needed] After the Norman invasion in 1169-71, some meetings of the Irish parliament were held in the town.[citation needed] Many of the earlier settlers in Kildare were Cambro-Normans from Wales, and so the medieval church was dedicated to Saint David.[citation needed]

In the Middle Ages, Naas became a walled market town, occasionally raided by the O'Byrne and O'Toole clans based in the nearby area which became County Wicklow. Naas features on the 1598 map by Abraham Ortelius as "Nosse".[3] (It is worth noticing the "O Byrne" and "O Tolo" (O'Toole) names appearing prominently on the map).

A mayor and council were selected by the richer merchants and landowners; the mayor was titled the "Sovereign of Naas" and carried a ceremonial mace until the post was abolished in 1840.[citation needed] Because of its importance as a place for trading, public meetings and local administration, with its law courts, racecourse and army barracks, it became known as the "county town" of County Kildare.[citation needed]

In the former Parliament of Ireland that was established in 1297 and ended in 1800, the constituency of Naas had 2 seats.[citation needed]

One of the first battles of the rebellion of 1798 took place in Naas on 24 May 1798 when a force of about 1,000 rebels were defeated in an unsuccessful attack on the town.[citation needed] A leader of the United Irishmen, Theobald Wolfe Tone, is buried just outside Naas, at Bodenstown.[citation needed]

In 1898, the Local Government Act established Naas Urban District Council (now Naas Town Council). Its jurisdiction had a circular boundary with a 2.4 km (1.5 mi) radius from the new town hall on the main street.[citation needed] Most of the rest of County Kildare is managed directly by Kildare County Council, also based in Naas since 1898, and which oversees the work of the Town Council.[citation needed]

Today, Naas is the 15th largest town in Ireland.[citation needed] The town is planning new housing developments during the next five years with a projected population of 30,000.[citation needed]

Media [edit]

  • County Kildare's local Radio Station Kfm 97.3FM - 97.6FM is located in the suburbs of the town.
  • The regional newspaper, Leinster Leader, is published in Naas.
  • Kildare County's local TV Station Kildare TV or KTV is located in Naas West based in the Osprey Hotel Complex on John Devoy Avenue

Places of interest [edit]

St. David's church
Canal Harbour, Basin Street
Canal from Abbey Bridge
South Main Street

Amenities in the town include: a library, tax office, a new Gaelic Athletic Association club, athletics club, a range of schools, Naas General Hospital, horse racecourse,[4] soccer club, tennis club, soccer club, hockey club, rugby club, two major nightclubs including the infamous 'Time', five-screen 3D cinema, several pubs, five supermarkets, county council offices, a number of hotels and the new Moat Theatre.

A large new public swimming pool and leisure centre opened on Carragh Avenue in 2009 and the old swimming pool site is now a public car park.[citation needed]

The town has two Roman Catholic churches, one Church of Ireland church, and one Presbyterian church.The original parish church, St. David's Church, is used by the Church of Ireland. The Roman Catholic parish church, the Church of Our Lady and St. David, dates from 1827.[citation needed] In 1997, the second Catholic Church opened in Ballycane on the east side of town and is dedicated to the Irish Martyrs.[citation needed]

There are two racecourses near Naas. Punchestown Racecourse is just to the south east of the town, in the parish of Eadestown, and Naas Racecourse is about 1 km from the town centre.[4] The annual Punchestown Race Festival is a major event for a whole week in April. The Oxegen music festival is also held at Punchestown in the second weekend of July.

Naas has one of the largest scouting groups in Ireland, with 2 Beaver nights, 3 cub nights, 3 Scout nights, a very large Venture group and a rover group.[citation needed]

Economy [edit]

Local industrial enterprises include Kerry Group,[5] Intel,[citation needed] Xilinx,[citation needed] Hewlett Packard.[citation needed] Other economic activities include local government, Aldi's national headquarters, and indigenous manufacturers such as Green Isle Foods, Dawn Farm Foods, Readymix, Dennison Trailers, Omos Street Furniture, Amvic Ireland, Pasta Concepts, Phamapac, QK Meats, Redlen, Simply Soups, Taravale Foods, Granning Axles.Volvo Irish Commercials have a truck dealership in the town.[citation needed] The town also includes law offices, hotels and a livestock mart. Naas is also home to the most expensive boutique in Ireland the Emporium Kalu in the centre of the town.[citation needed] Naas boasts the largest Tesco Extra hypermarket in Ireland located on the Monread Road in the northside of the town. The Tesco Extra site will be further developed into a shopping centre with 18 more retail units including Costa Coffee, Argos and Boots stores planned for summer 2011.[citation needed]A Tesco Metro store is located on the Blessington Road. A second Aldi store is located on Monread Rd near Tesco Extra.

Recently[when?] a lot of proposed stores and retail have been announced for Naas such as, Superquinn will be moving onto the Limerick Road along with plans for an Eight-Screen Cinema and leisure centre. A new Penney's (Primark) superstore will be located on the old Superquinn site in the town centre. Under construction is the new Naas Shopping Mall at Corbans Avenue which has seen work postponed due to the economic downturn and lack of funding.[citation needed] Naas is considered[by whom?] now to be the largest Retail Centre in County Kildare, largely as a result of its critical mass of bulky goods floorspace located in Large Modern Retail Parks in the Town's suburbs.[6]

The town of Naas is surrounded by commercial parks with stores such as Harvey Norman, Smyths Toy's, Clery's, PC World, Halfords and Heatons. The largest commercial park is located near the Newhall Interchange. A major business park is under construction at Osberstown.[7]

On October 9, 2012, the largest creation of jobs in the history of the Naas area was announced. Kerry Group is to set up a €100 million, 28-acre campus on Millennium Blvd at Millennium Park in the NW of the town. Construction is due to commence in August 2013. Hundreds of jobs are to be created during construction and when completed.[citation needed]

Transport [edit]

Naas railway station opened on 22 June 1855, closed for passenger traffic on 27 January 1947 and for goods traffic on 10 March 1947, and finally closed altogether on 1 April 1959.[8] The railway station at Sallins is now used by many residents of Naas and the surrounding area for the daily commute to Dublin, with frequent trains throughout the day and travel times less than 30 minutes to Dublin city centre.

Naas is connected to other main towns and cities by bus services. The main carriers are Bus Éireann and JJ Kavanagh and Sons.[9][clarification needed][10]

The N7 Naas Road, which connects Naas to Dublin, was upgraded in 2006 with a six-lane carriageway with grade-separated interchanges. Plans have been laid out to construct a large interchange at the Osberstown-Millenium Park as part of the M7 upgrade.[11] An orbital ring road is also being built; several phases have already been opened.[12]

Roads [edit]

Education [edit]

Naas has three secondary schools, St. Mary's, a girls convent school, the Christian Brothers School, for boys, and Pipers Hill College (formerly St. Patrick's Community College), a mixed school.[citation needed] A gaelscoil and the Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA) headquarters are also located in the Piper's Hill campus. It also has primary schools, including the Convent of Mercy, a girl's school,[13] a school for boys, Scoil Bhride, a mixed school and Ballycane, another mixed school teaching classes from Junior Infants to 2nd class and St. David's, a mixed school.[citation needed]

Naas has a large public library which is located in the canal harbour area.[14]

Mayoral remarks [edit]

Mayor Darrell Scully resigned from office on 22 November 2011 in the wake of comments he made about the "aggressive attitude" of "black Africans" he had allegedly encountered in the course of his constituency work.[15]

He made the remarks on a national radio station, 4fm, and then repeated them the local radio station, Kfm. He stated that due to the aggression he had allegedly received "in every single case I've had" that he would no longer represent black Africans.[15] 4fm presenter Niall Boylan said afterwards that he thought Scully had committed "political suicide" on live radio.[16] Anti-racism groups called for Scully to be jailed.[17] The Garda Síochána are investigating him under the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act.[15] Naas Town Council members convened a special protocol meeting to discuss the issue.[18] Pressure mounted on Fine Gael to expel Scully.[17] Independent TD Catherine Murphy, who beat Scully in the 2005 by-election, in Dáil Éireann, described his comments as "outrageous" and "totally unacceptable".[19] Former Labour TD Moosajee Bhamjee, Ireland's first Muslim TD, said Scully's remarks represented the "beginning of official racism" in Ireland and described them as "enlightenment" for the "small neo-Nazi following in this country".[19]

Scully has said, "It saddens me that people would call me a racist because I'm not. I know what I am as a person and I'm not any of those things".[20][21] Irish Independent columnist Ian O'Doherty defended Scully and compared those who called for his resignation to Nazis.[22] Kevin Myers, another Irish Independent columnist, criticised the "viciously sanctimonious hysteria" that had "erupted" over a matter which, said Myers, was "symptomatic of the frustration felt by so many Irish people, who for years have felt quite powerless in the face of immigration policies that have had such profound effects on their communities".[23]

In 2008, Scully criticised Irish Travellers for their "monstrous and inappropriate shrines" in graveyards.[17] The same year he accused young women of getting pregnant to increase their chances of getting local authority housing and claimed teenagers were seeking "advice on how to get pregnant".[17]

People [edit]

Sport [edit]

"Perpetual Motion", located at the north end of the Naas By-Pass, created by Rachel Joynt and Remco de Fouw in 1995.
  • Naas Rugby Club (Naas RFC), Forenaughts, Naas. One of the largest memberships for a senior club in Leinster[citation needed].
  • Naas AFC Soccer Club [2] with over 500 players, from 5years of age, to Senior club.[26]
  • Monread FC Soccer Club [27]
  • Naas United FC Soccer Club [28]
  • Naas GAA is the local Gaelic Athletic Association club.[29]
  • Naas Athletic Club on the Caragh Road.[30]
  • Naas Golf Club is one of three local golf clubs and is located in Sallins.
  • Naas Lawn Tennis Club.[31] is one of Ireland's premium tennis clubs, with the recent edition of a 3 court indoor facility.
  • Naas Racecourse.
  • Punchestown, horse racing is frequently held, as well as other international events.
  • KBowl 10 pin Bowling.
  • Osborne Stables, Craddockstown, Naas.

Twinning [edit]

Main article: List of twin towns and sister cities in the Republic of Ireland

Naas is twinned with the following places:

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ "International Civic Heraldry". Ngw.nl. Retrieved 2012-07-06. 
  2. ^ "Naas Legal Town Results". Central Statistics Office. 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2012. 
  3. ^ "A Modern Depiction of Ireland, One of the British Isles". World Digital Library. 1572. Retrieved 2012-07-06. 
  4. ^ a b "Naas Racecourse". Naasracecourse.com. Retrieved 2008-10-26. 
  5. ^ "Kerry Group to create up to 900 jobs in Kildare". RTÉ News. 2012-10-09. Retrieved 2013=04-11. 
  6. ^ [1][dead link]
  7. ^ "Welcome to Osberstown — Co. Kildare". Osberstown.com. Retrieved 2008-10-26. 
  8. ^ "Naas station". Railscot - Irish Railways. Retrieved 2007-11-19. 
  9. ^ Bus Eireann, Dublin Coach, Rapid Town Link and web site
  10. ^ Schedule JJ Kavanagh web site
  11. ^ ARUP Consulting Engineers (November 2008). "M7 Osbertown Interchange: Environmental Impact Statement". Kildare County Council & Naas Town Council. Retrieved 2009-02-27. 
  12. ^ Kildare County Council (March 2008). "Naas Southern Ring Road Opens". Retrieved 2009-04-06. 
  13. ^ "St. Corban's B.N.S". Stcorbans.com. Retrieved 2012-07-06. 
  14. ^ Nass Library web site
  15. ^ a b c d "Darren Scully resigns as Mayor of Naas". RTÉ News. 22 November 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2011. 
  16. ^ "Darren Scully resigns as Mayor of Naas". TheJournal.ie. 22 November 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2011. 
  17. ^ a b c d O'Connor, Niall (23 November 2011). "Pressure mounts on FG to expel race row mayor as history of controversy emerges". Evening Herald. Retrieved 23 November 2011. 
  18. ^ "Naas council says town is 'inclusive'". RTÉ News. 23 November 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2011. 
  19. ^ a b Blaney, Ferghal; Mallon, Sandra (23 November 2011). "Irish town mayor quits after refusing to deal with black people because they are 'aggressive and bad-mannered'". Daily Mail (London). Retrieved 23 November 2011. 
  20. ^ Telford, Lyndsey (23 November 2011). "Fine Gael’s Darren Scully quits as mayor of Naas over his comments about ‘black Africans’". Irish Independent. Retrieved 23 November 2011. 
  21. ^ Carroll, Steven; Deeney, Lisa (23 November 2011). "FG councillor resigns as mayor after radio remarks". The Irish Times. Retrieved 23 November 2011. 
  22. ^ "Ian O'Doherty: We will not tolerate intolerance". Irish Independent. 29 November 2011. 
  23. ^ "Kevin Myers: Hubris at Montrose is simply staggering". Irish Independent. 29 November 2011. 
  24. ^ "and www.histpop.org for post 1821 figures, 1813 estimate from Mason’s Statistical Survey For a discussion on the accuracy of pre-famine census returns see JJ Lee "On the accuracy of the Pre-famine Irish censuses Irish Population, Economy and Society edited by JM Goldstrom and LA Clarkson (1981) p54, in and also New Developments in Irish Population History, 1700-1850 by Joel Mokyr and Cormac O Grada in The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Nov., 1984), pp. 473-488.". Cso.ie. Retrieved 2012-07-06. 
  25. ^ "Jenny McCudden and Quincy Lehr to read at City Museum". Galway Independent. 19 March 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2008. 
  26. ^ "Naas AFC". Naas AFC. Retrieved 2009-06-23. 
  27. ^ "Monread FC". Monread FC. Retrieved 2012-07-06. 
  28. ^ "Naas United Football Club, Donnelly Mirrors: Kildare Soccer Team". Soccer-ireland.com. Retrieved 2012-07-06. 
  29. ^ "Naas GAA". Naasgaa.ie. Retrieved 2012-07-06. 
  30. ^ "Naas Athletic Club". Naas Athletic Club. Retrieved 2012-07-06. 
  31. ^ "Tennis, Fun. Since 1881". Naas Lawn Tennis Club. 2012-06-30. Retrieved 2012-07-06. 
  32. ^ a b c d e "Naas Town Council - 2006 report - Page 4 - Twinning in Naas" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-07-06. 

Sources [edit]

External links [edit]

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