Dunshaughlin, 29 km from Dublin on the N3 road, is today a thriving satellite town of the nation's capital consisting primarily of a main street, with numerous retail units consisting of newsagents, pubs, take away food outlets and clothing stores. It has grown immensely over the last 20 years and while the population in 1996 was just 2,139, it was 3,063 by the census of 2002 and is probably closer to 3,500 today.