The school was founded in 1856, when the Society of St Vincent de Paul purchased a building in Mountbrown, Kilmainham. Within a year, this building proved to be too small and land was purchased in Glasnevin, at the junction of Finglas Road and Botanic Road. An imposing building was erected, which opened in 1860 as a school with residential accommodation for 150 boy boarders, teaching and classroom facilities, and a farm which supplied provisions including milk and vegetables. Initially run by the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, in 1863 the Congregation of Christian Brothers took over. Day boys were enrolled from January 1927, but this put a strain on the accommodation and a new primary school building was opened in 1939. At the centenary in 1956 very little had changed as there were still 140 boarders and the farm was still in operation. The secondary school continued to operate in the old building until new buildings were opened in 1964. Boarding continued until 1973 when the school became entirely a day-school. The swimming pool was built in 1968 and the sports hall in 1976. The main school frontage is now on Finglas Road in Glasnevin, Dublin 11, opposite the historic Glasnevin cemetery. Behind the secondary school, and between it and the playing fields, is St. Vincents CBS Primary. The school was visited by The President of Ireland and Mrs Higgins in December 2017. The school principal, Mr John Horan, served as President of the GAA from 2018 to 2021.
Facilities
The school was recently refurbished, including with new equipment for its chemistry, physics and computer laboratories, and extension of the Arts & Crafts, Construction Technology and Library multimedia facilities was completed in 2017. The school has over 10 acres of sports fields. It has a 25m swimming pool, but this is not currently in use after winter storm damage and the National Aquatic Centre is used. A large sports hall/gymnasium complex contains a gaelic handball alley, a basketball court where large-scale competitions are held, and other facilities such as specialist classrooms, a canteen and an oratory.
In terms of sport, the school is perhaps best known for:
Basketball A long established and successful club: from academy level to Superleague, 3 Superleague Northern Conference titles, sharing a history with, and feeding into, the DCU Saints men's professional team.
Swimming. The Water-Polo Club is one of the largest and most successful in Ireland - in the 2013/14 season, the Water-Polo Club were the Irish National League Champions for both Ladies and Men, as well as Ladies' Irish Cup & Men's National Knockout Cup holders. At underage level, the Girls and Boys were winners of their respective Irish U/19 Cups.
