Despite the negative perceptions of many non-residents of Ballymun, many of the residents insist that there is a strong sense of pride and community in the area. Lynn Connolly, whose 2006 memoir "The Mun: Growing Up in Ballymun" detailed her raising there in the 1970s and 1980s, readily acknowledged the problems there and wanted to get out at the time. But she later came to realise that there had been much that was good at the towers – in terms of a collective wit among residents and a helping sense of community – which had been ignored by the media.