• The town's crest reads "Mé do rug Cú Chulainn Cróga" which means “I gave birth to brave Cú Chulainn”
  
  
• Dundalk is twinned with the town of Rezé in France.
  
  
• Dundalk is home to Ireland's first all-weather horseracing track at Dundalk Stadium
  
  
• Some famous faces from Dundalk include: Irish pop group The Corrs; soccer player and previous Republic of Ireland football team manager Steve Staunton; current Minister for Justice in the Irish Government, Dermot Ahern; the revolutionary, author and playwright Dorothy MacArdle; botanist and doctor Thomas Coulter, Leinster and Ireland rugby player Robert Kearney; Arctic explorer and discoverer of the fate of Franklin, Francis Leopold McClintock; scientist Nicholas Callan, maker of the first induction coil; and film director, producer and writer John Moore.

A promising player at school for Clongowes he made his debut for Leinster in 2005 and has represented Ireland at schools, Under 19 and A levels.

The Louth native, now aligned with UCD, was a member of the 2007 RBS 6 Nations squad but did not win his first cap until the summer tour to Argentina. Kearney has been impressing for Leinster in both the Magners League and Heineken Cup.

He made his RBS 6 Nations debut against Italy in February 2008 and went on to win caps in each of the games, turning in some eye catching performances. Kearney also played the two summer tests against New Zealand and Australia.

The 08/09 season saw his star continue to rise. His coolness under a high ball, counter attacking pace and seige gun boot saw him pick up a Grand Slam and Heineken Cup winners medal as well as place in the 2009 Lions squad.

• Heralded as 'the hardest working band in the music industry', with worldwide album sales reaching a staggering 24 million, The Corrs are a global phenomenon, encapsulating both physical beauty and combining it with effortless creativity and talent.
• With platinum albums in more than twenty countries, to borrow the title of one of their earliest hits, this surely is the right time to release a 'best of' album.
  
  
• During the 1930s and 1940s Dundalk was known as ‘the shoe capital of Ireland’ with a number of shoe factories in the town between them producing a million pairs of shoes each year. 
  
  
• Dundalk is a global leader through its current Dundalk Sustainable Energy Zone project which will show other towns and cities across Europe how to use different energy technologies and techniques in an intelligent and integrated way.