Rathcoole (Belfast)
Encyclopedia
Rathcoole is a housing estate
in Newtownabbey
, County Antrim
, Northern Ireland
. It was built in the 1950s to house many of those displaced by the demolition
of inner city housing in Belfast city. Rathcoole is within the wider Newtownabbey Borough
.
and Rathcoole.cain project These plans were informed by attempts by successive UK governments and the local parliament at Stormont to use large scale social engineering to reduce underlying sectarian tensions in Northern Ireland. In common with other such areas, Rathcoole's design included self-contained facilities such as a cinema, youth centre, a shopping centre and schools. In spite of these planned facilities it has been acknowledged that they were insufficient for a population that grew rapidly to over 10000. The Cinema had been shut-down and a Taxi Service had taken over the west wing of the building, since then the building had been demolished and a new 'bar' built on its grounds, the taxi service has moved to the 2nd floor in the Diamond.
Other housing developments were built near. These were Rushpark, Rathfern and Bawnmore, all three constructed by the Northern Ireland Housing Trust, forerunner of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. Other estates in the district included Merville Garden Village and Fernagh, which were developed privately by Ulster Garden Villages Limited.
Since 1 April 1958, Rathcoole and the above estates have been an integral part of Newtownabbey, the first town in Ireland's history to be constituted by an Act of Parliament at Westminster. By 1977 Newtownabbey was given 'borough' status.
A prominent feature of the community is its Christian churches, including all main Protestant denominations but notably has never featured a Roman Catholic church within its boundary, (although three lie a short distance beyond in different directions). In the original design a local council bye-law prohibited premises selling alcohol within the bounds of the estate.
In the early decades most of the commerce in the area was dominated by nearby Belfast, easily accessible by bus and public taxi services. Since the late 1970s, local shopping opportunities have been developed on what was a largely green field site centred around the Abbeycentre which has grown rapidly with the addition of many satellite trading centres including large DIY stores and most of the major UK high street retailers.
Communications are excellent, being beside the A2
Carrickfergus
- Belfast road, a short drive from the ports of Belfast
and Larne
as well as both George Best Belfast City Airport
and Belfast International Airport
.
The estate sits below the Cavehill
and is bordered on the north by Carnmoney Hill which features a small country park and on the south by a picturesque glen called Glas naBraden (Irish - Green of the Salmon). The shores of Belfast Lough at Whitehouse and Hazelbank park are within walking distance. Hazelbank is surrounded by the leftover walls of the Carrickfergus Village. The Walls are built along the Belfast Shores.
known as the Troubles
brought about sectarian conflict after a period of reducing community antagonism. A feature of the early Troubles was a form of what in later conflicts would be classed as ethnic cleansing. With some exceptions in Northern Ireland this was carried out largely on the basis of implied threats rather than outright aggression. Rathcoole became a new home to many Protestants displaced from Belfast. In the period 1969-1973 a common sight on the streets of urban working class areas of Northern Ireland was parties of people moving furniture either by hand or any vehicle they could borrow. It was in this time that the Northern Ireland Housing Executive was born in response to accusations that councils responsible for allocating public housing were using allocation as a means of favouring their own. Community vigilante groups acted as gatekeepers to such population exchanges in public housing areas. In the early 1970s police were briefly excluded from the area by the Rathcoole Defence Association (RDA), a move that reflected a wider pattern in Northern Ireland. Resource-starved authorities could do little but stand by and re-allocate housing on the basis of squatters becoming accepted as sitting tenants. In Rathcoole for instance this was estimated at between 200 and 250 families in mid-1972.
It was during these times that the family of Bobby Sands
, later to become an Irish Republican Army
(IRA) hunger strike
r and Member of Parliament
for Fermanagh & South Tyrone moved out of Rathcoole to the Irish Republican Twinbrook estate in Belfast, one of many Catholic families to leave the area to be replaced by similarly displaced Protestant families. The estate was the scene of several sectarian murders and other violent crimes during the conflict. At around this time many young disaffected males became associated with a Loyalist Tartan Gang in the estate named 'The Rathcoole KAI'. The decline of the gangs coincided with the sudden success of The Bay City Rollers with younger children and the conspicuous use of tartan items of clothing by the band possibly leading to a loss of credibility of tartan as a symbol of strength.
In subsequent years at times of wider community stress in Northern Ireland sporadic rioting with security forces has occasionally occurred within the estate but not to the extent witnessed in urban areas of Belfast
and Derry
and the community has enjoyed long periods of calm.
In October 2010 there was serious rioting in the area linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force and resulted in Translink suspending their services in the area for a period of time after some of their buses were hijacked and set on fire.Police also claimed a gunman from the UVF was sighted at the scene of the rioting.The unrest was believed to be a reaction to police raids in Rathcoole.
members only working men's club
.
Those who take the time to view Belfast from its surrounding hills can never fail to identify Rathcoole's location as it is home to one of the most prominent and distinctive features of the Greater Belfast skyline, at the estate's centre are four high rise apartment blocks that rise from an otherwise low level landscape to mark the northern-most reaches of outer Belfast in the same way that the giant Samson and Goliath cranes of the old shipyard characterize the landscape of the east of the city.
. Children requiring grammar school education need to travel further to facilities such as Belfast High School
, Belfast Royal Academy
and Ballyclare High School
.
and the Ulster Unionist Party
. Alongside mainstream Unionists many independent Unionist and Loyalist politicians have represented the area at all levels of local government. In the aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement parties associated with Loyalist paramilitary groupings such as the Progressive Unionist Party
(PUP) and the Ulster Democratic Party
(UDP) enjoyed some success in the area with the PUP's more left wing working class analysis appealing to the area's largely working class population. Alongside loyalism, the estate also had a long Labour tradition. Between 1973 and 2001, the area returned at least one Labour councillor in every local government election.http://www.atholbooks.org/nilabour/di_eleven.php This party was refused affiliation by the British Labour party which instead maintained its endorsement of the largely Roman Catholic Social Democratic Labour Party
(SDLP) in Northern Ireland.
During the 1990s, with hopes for change in the political climate in Northern Ireland and the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, change was also apparent in the estate. Funded by investment from the New Labour UK government, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive
demolished some of its housing stock in the area including the hastily built 'banana flats' (maisonette style housing) which was afflicted with many of the sort of structural and social problems associated with high density community living commonplace in Glasgow's infamous tenements. They also renovated some of its out of date housing, providing items now taken for granted such as gas heating. The Diamond shopping area was extensively remodelled, creating more open space. New football pitches and changing areas were provided, and opened by HRH The Princess Anne
. Plans are well advanced for new social housing at Green Walk.
The estate has now changed into a progressive area, often a source of affordable housing for Belfast commuters. However, there are still some underlying problems. As with many working class areas of Northern Ireland, paramilitary
groups, particularly the Ulster Defence Association
still have a huge influence on the estate. Past UDA brigadiers in the area have included Joe English
and John Gregg
.
Housing estate
A housing estate is a group of buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Accordingly, a housing estate is usually built by a single contractor, with only a few styles of house or building design, so they tend to be uniform in appearance...
in Newtownabbey
Newtownabbey
Newtownabbey is a large town north of Belfast in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Sometimes considered to be a suburb of Belfast, it is separated from the rest of the city by Cavehill and Fortwilliam golf course...
, County Antrim
County Antrim
County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. It was built in the 1950s to house many of those displaced by the demolition
Demolition
Demolition is the tearing-down of buildings and other structures, the opposite of construction. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for re-use....
of inner city housing in Belfast city. Rathcoole is within the wider Newtownabbey Borough
Newtownabbey Borough Council
Newtownabbey Borough Council is a Local Council in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Newtownabbey has a population of over 80,000 and is on the north shore of Belfast Lough just immediately north of Belfast. The Borough was founded in 1958 as a result of an Act of Parliament passed in 1957 and...
.
Community history and setting
In the 1940s and 1950s, a number of new large scale housing schemes were planned for Northern Ireland including CraigavonCraigavon
Craigavon is a settlement in north County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It was a planned settlement that was begun in 1965 and named after Northern Ireland's first Prime Minister — James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon. It was intended to be a linear city incorporating Lurgan and Portadown, but this plan...
and Rathcoole.cain project These plans were informed by attempts by successive UK governments and the local parliament at Stormont to use large scale social engineering to reduce underlying sectarian tensions in Northern Ireland. In common with other such areas, Rathcoole's design included self-contained facilities such as a cinema, youth centre, a shopping centre and schools. In spite of these planned facilities it has been acknowledged that they were insufficient for a population that grew rapidly to over 10000. The Cinema had been shut-down and a Taxi Service had taken over the west wing of the building, since then the building had been demolished and a new 'bar' built on its grounds, the taxi service has moved to the 2nd floor in the Diamond.
Other housing developments were built near. These were Rushpark, Rathfern and Bawnmore, all three constructed by the Northern Ireland Housing Trust, forerunner of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. Other estates in the district included Merville Garden Village and Fernagh, which were developed privately by Ulster Garden Villages Limited.
Since 1 April 1958, Rathcoole and the above estates have been an integral part of Newtownabbey, the first town in Ireland's history to be constituted by an Act of Parliament at Westminster. By 1977 Newtownabbey was given 'borough' status.
A prominent feature of the community is its Christian churches, including all main Protestant denominations but notably has never featured a Roman Catholic church within its boundary, (although three lie a short distance beyond in different directions). In the original design a local council bye-law prohibited premises selling alcohol within the bounds of the estate.
In the early decades most of the commerce in the area was dominated by nearby Belfast, easily accessible by bus and public taxi services. Since the late 1970s, local shopping opportunities have been developed on what was a largely green field site centred around the Abbeycentre which has grown rapidly with the addition of many satellite trading centres including large DIY stores and most of the major UK high street retailers.
Communications are excellent, being beside the A2
A2 road (Northern Ireland)
The A2 is a major road in Northern Ireland, a large section of which is often called the Antrim Coast Road because it follows the scenic coastline of County Antrim....
Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus , known locally and colloquially as "Carrick", is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,201 at the 2001 Census and takes its name from Fergus Mór mac Eirc, the 6th century king...
- Belfast road, a short drive from the ports of Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
and Larne
Larne
Larne is a substantial seaport and industrial market town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland with a population of 18,228 people in the 2001 Census. As of 2011, there are about 31,000 residents in the greater Larne area. It has been used as a seaport for over 1,000 years, and is...
as well as both George Best Belfast City Airport
George Best Belfast City Airport
George Best Belfast City Airport is a single-runway airport in Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Situated adjacent to the Port of Belfast it is from Belfast City Centre. It shares the site with the Short Brothers/Bombardier aircraft manufacturing facility...
and Belfast International Airport
Belfast International Airport
Belfast International Airport is a major airport located northwest of Belfast in Northern Ireland. It was formerly known and is still referred to as Aldergrove Airport, after the village of the same name lying immediately to the west of the airport. Belfast International shares its runways with...
.
The estate sits below the Cavehill
Cavehill
Cavehill, historically known as Ben Madigan , is a basaltic hill overlooking the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland. It forms part of the southeastern border of the Antrim Plateau. It is distinguished by its famous 'Napoleon's Nose', a basaltic outcrop which resembles the profile of the famous...
and is bordered on the north by Carnmoney Hill which features a small country park and on the south by a picturesque glen called Glas naBraden (Irish - Green of the Salmon). The shores of Belfast Lough at Whitehouse and Hazelbank park are within walking distance. Hazelbank is surrounded by the leftover walls of the Carrickfergus Village. The Walls are built along the Belfast Shores.
Civil unrest
Towards the end of the 1960s, civil unrest in Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
known as the Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
brought about sectarian conflict after a period of reducing community antagonism. A feature of the early Troubles was a form of what in later conflicts would be classed as ethnic cleansing. With some exceptions in Northern Ireland this was carried out largely on the basis of implied threats rather than outright aggression. Rathcoole became a new home to many Protestants displaced from Belfast. In the period 1969-1973 a common sight on the streets of urban working class areas of Northern Ireland was parties of people moving furniture either by hand or any vehicle they could borrow. It was in this time that the Northern Ireland Housing Executive was born in response to accusations that councils responsible for allocating public housing were using allocation as a means of favouring their own. Community vigilante groups acted as gatekeepers to such population exchanges in public housing areas. In the early 1970s police were briefly excluded from the area by the Rathcoole Defence Association (RDA), a move that reflected a wider pattern in Northern Ireland. Resource-starved authorities could do little but stand by and re-allocate housing on the basis of squatters becoming accepted as sitting tenants. In Rathcoole for instance this was estimated at between 200 and 250 families in mid-1972.
It was during these times that the family of Bobby Sands
Bobby Sands
Robert Gerard "Bobby" Sands was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and member of the United Kingdom Parliament who died on hunger strike while imprisoned in HM Prison Maze....
, later to become an Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
(IRA) hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
r and Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Fermanagh & South Tyrone moved out of Rathcoole to the Irish Republican Twinbrook estate in Belfast, one of many Catholic families to leave the area to be replaced by similarly displaced Protestant families. The estate was the scene of several sectarian murders and other violent crimes during the conflict. At around this time many young disaffected males became associated with a Loyalist Tartan Gang in the estate named 'The Rathcoole KAI'. The decline of the gangs coincided with the sudden success of The Bay City Rollers with younger children and the conspicuous use of tartan items of clothing by the band possibly leading to a loss of credibility of tartan as a symbol of strength.
In subsequent years at times of wider community stress in Northern Ireland sporadic rioting with security forces has occasionally occurred within the estate but not to the extent witnessed in urban areas of Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
and Derry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...
and the community has enjoyed long periods of calm.
In October 2010 there was serious rioting in the area linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force and resulted in Translink suspending their services in the area for a period of time after some of their buses were hijacked and set on fire.Police also claimed a gunman from the UVF was sighted at the scene of the rioting.The unrest was believed to be a reaction to police raids in Rathcoole.
Decline and regeneration
The Diamond shopping centre suffered from a lack of investment and substantial decline in its environment throughout the 1960s and 1970s and was in need of extensive renovation and reconstruction. Part of this reconstruction led to the building of a large new branch library in the late 1970s. Meanwhile the estate's other shopping area near Rathcoole Secondary School was declared derelict and demolished. Following an extensive fire and a period of dereliction, the reconstructed Alpha Cinema became the East Way Social Club, a loyalistUlster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...
members only working men's club
Working men's club
Working men's clubs are a type of private social club founded in the 19th century in industrial areas of the United Kingdom, particularly the North of England, the Midlands and many parts of the South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class men and their families.-...
.
Those who take the time to view Belfast from its surrounding hills can never fail to identify Rathcoole's location as it is home to one of the most prominent and distinctive features of the Greater Belfast skyline, at the estate's centre are four high rise apartment blocks that rise from an otherwise low level landscape to mark the northern-most reaches of outer Belfast in the same way that the giant Samson and Goliath cranes of the old shipyard characterize the landscape of the east of the city.
Education
Over the years the estate has been served by quite a number of schools within its boundaries. The primary sector included the state controlled Rathcoole Primary, Abbot's Cross Primary and nearby Whitehouse Primary schools. The Catholic Maintained sector was served by Stella Maris Primary school. Three schools provided for secondary level education; Rathcoole, Hopefield for controlled sector and Stella Maris secondary for the catholic maintained sector. As the post World War II baby boom generation grew older, school populations declined rapidly in the area, and in the 1980s and 1990s, Stella Maris Primary and Secondary Schools and Rathcoole Secondary School (State Controlled) were closed. The Stella Maris site has now been redeveloped as a retail park as part of the larger Abbeycentre trading area. In an attempt to increase the mixture of housing tenure types in the estate the Rathcoole Secondary site has now been redeveloped into privately owned housing. State controlled sector education is now the only form of education facility in the estate with the three primary schools still going strong whilst secondary education is now concentrated on the old Hopefield site, now remodelled and extended as Newtownabbey Community High SchoolNewtownabbey Community High School
Newtownabbey Community High School is a secondary school in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland.Newtownabbey Community High School, founded in 1994, is a controlled, co-educational school providing secondary level education for girls and boys of all ability levels...
. Children requiring grammar school education need to travel further to facilities such as Belfast High School
Belfast High School
Belfast High School is a Voluntary Grammar School located at Jordanstown in Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies within the North Eastern Education and Library Board area....
, Belfast Royal Academy
Belfast Royal Academy
The Belfast Royal Academy is the oldest school in the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a co-educational, non-denominational voluntary grammar school situated in north Belfast. The Academy is one of eight Northern Irish schools whose Headmaster is a member of the Headmasters' and...
and Ballyclare High School
Ballyclare High School
Ballyclare High School is a co-educational, non-denominational grammar school in Ballyclare, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. There are approximately 1,200 pupils at the school, taught by around 90 teachers. It was opened in the 1890s in the village of Doagh, a few miles south-west of Ballyclare...
.
Politics
The dominant political tradition in the area in recent decades has been Unionism with strong showing in successive elections by the Democratic Unionist PartyDemocratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...
and the Ulster Unionist Party
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...
. Alongside mainstream Unionists many independent Unionist and Loyalist politicians have represented the area at all levels of local government. In the aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement parties associated with Loyalist paramilitary groupings such as the Progressive Unionist Party
Progressive Unionist Party
The Progressive Unionist Party is a small unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed from the Independent Unionist Group operating in the Shankill area of Belfast, becoming the PUP in 1979...
(PUP) and the Ulster Democratic Party
Ulster Democratic Party
The Ulster Democratic Party was a small loyalist political party in Northern Ireland. It was established in June 1981 as the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party by the Ulster Defence Association to replace their New Ulster Political Research Group...
(UDP) enjoyed some success in the area with the PUP's more left wing working class analysis appealing to the area's largely working class population. Alongside loyalism, the estate also had a long Labour tradition. Between 1973 and 2001, the area returned at least one Labour councillor in every local government election.http://www.atholbooks.org/nilabour/di_eleven.php This party was refused affiliation by the British Labour party which instead maintained its endorsement of the largely Roman Catholic Social Democratic Labour Party
Social Democratic Labour Party
Social Democratic Labour Party may refer to one of the following.*Estonian Social Democratic Labour Party, successor merged into the Estonian United Left Party*Social Democratic Workers' Party...
(SDLP) in Northern Ireland.
During the 1990s, with hopes for change in the political climate in Northern Ireland and the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, change was also apparent in the estate. Funded by investment from the New Labour UK government, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive
Northern Ireland Housing Executive
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive is the public housing authority for Northern Ireland. It is the enforcing authority for those parts of housing orders that involve houses with multiple occupants, houses that are unfit, and housing conditions.- Origins :...
demolished some of its housing stock in the area including the hastily built 'banana flats' (maisonette style housing) which was afflicted with many of the sort of structural and social problems associated with high density community living commonplace in Glasgow's infamous tenements. They also renovated some of its out of date housing, providing items now taken for granted such as gas heating. The Diamond shopping area was extensively remodelled, creating more open space. New football pitches and changing areas were provided, and opened by HRH The Princess Anne
Anne, Princess Royal
Princess Anne, Princess Royal , is the only daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
. Plans are well advanced for new social housing at Green Walk.
The estate has now changed into a progressive area, often a source of affordable housing for Belfast commuters. However, there are still some underlying problems. As with many working class areas of Northern Ireland, paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
groups, particularly the Ulster Defence Association
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...
still have a huge influence on the estate. Past UDA brigadiers in the area have included Joe English
Joe English (loyalist)
Joe English is a former Ulster loyalist activist. English was a leading figure in both the Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Democratic Party and was instrumental in the early stages of the Northern Ireland peace process. He is a native of the Rathcoole area of Newtownabbey, Northern...
and John Gregg
John Gregg (UDA)
John Gregg was a senior member of the UDA/UFF loyalist organisation in Northern Ireland. From the 1990s until his shooting death by rival associates, he served as brigadier of its South East Antrim Brigade...
.
Notable people
- One of Northern Ireland’s leading musicians and composers John Anderson grew up at 60 Rathcoole Drive. He is better known as the leader of the popular ‘John Anderson Big Band.’ In 1989 the John Anderson Big Band was featured on four number one hit singles under the guise of ‘Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers’ in the United Kingdom and worldwide. Most recently the spectacular stage show ‘On Eagles Wings,’ the story of the Scotch-Irish or Ulster-Scots journey from Ulster to America in the early 17th century, was written and composed by him. It was broadcast on over 300 hundred-television stations in the USA and has just been aired to acclaim in Australia. In the mid-1980s, however, he was appointed Executive Producer at Ulster Television (UTV) in Belfast where he helped produce a number of local Light Entertainment programmes. In the 1990s John brought the phenomenally successful ‘School Choir of the Year’ from humble beginnings to an event, which eventually attracted more than 10,000 young singers from across Northern Ireland and became the biggest event of its kind in Europe. The result is broadcasted yearly on UTV. Today he has his own Sunday afternoon radio programme on BBC Radio Ulster playing all genres of music, including classical, rock, swing, choral and popular.
- Ex-Northern Ireland national football team Northern Ireland and Queen's Park Rangers F.C. (QPR) football captain Alan McDonald was born in Rathcoole. He lived at Doonbeg Drive, located at the northern edge of the area.
- Former Northern Ireland national football team footballer Billy Hamilton, who scored twice for his country at the 1982 FIFA World Cup 1982 World Cup finals.
- The award-winning Northern Irish author and playwright Gary Mitchell is from Dunowen Pass. Mitchell attended Rathcoole Primary School where his Grandfather, the late Harry Moreland, was caretaker throughout the 1970s/1980s. One of Mitchell's plays about Rathcoole featured budding Dublin-born actor Colin Farrell, today the Hollywood superstar.
- Ex-Northern Ireland International and Manchester United football player Jimmy Nicholl lived at 25 Drumcor Green and attended Rathcoole Secondary School, which was directly opposite his house.
- The actress Kathy Brolly, star of the popular BBC drama 'Life On Mars' (2006) and Lynda La Plante's drama 'Killer Net' (1998), amongst other film and television productions, is a former Rathcoole resident. She resided at Glencoole House, one of the four iconic multi-story flats that tower over Rathcoole located near The Diamond shopping centre in the heart of the area.
- Two founder members of the alternative rock band ‘Four Idle Hands’ come from Rathcoole. The McMahon brothers originally come from Gortmore Terrace at the north-western edge of the estate. Their relatives still reside in Rathcoole, including sister Sandra Campbell and an elder brother. The band had a comparative following on the Ulster music scene. They released ‘99 Streets / Friday Man 7”’ (1990), and the ‘Blind EP 12" (4 track EP)’ (1991) on Terri Hooley’s Good Vibrations label based in Belfast.
- Northern Ireland International and Manchester United football player Jonny Evans lived in Rathcoole.
- Provisional IRA Hunger Striker and one-time Westminster MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Bobby SandsBobby SandsRobert Gerard "Bobby" Sands was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and member of the United Kingdom Parliament who died on hunger strike while imprisoned in HM Prison Maze....
, is originally from Doonbeg Drive. He was born at nearby Abbots Cross Garden Village, Doagh Road.
- Sands' former Provisional IRA associate Jim Gibney is also from Rathcoole. He and his family resided at Foyle Hill. Today Gidney is one of Sinn FéinSinn FéinSinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
’s senior strategists. He is also a regular columnist for the Northern Ireland nationalist daily newspaper, the Irish News.
- Michael McAdam, the founder and owner of the successful Northern Ireland 'Movie House' cinemas chain, is from Rathcoole.
- First Irish rapper, Jun Tzu, was born and raised in Rathcoole before moving to Manchester. Has been progressively becoming a big name in the Manchester and Belfast rap scene.