Hi Ceol, I lived in Cabra for the first 27 years of my life until last year. Cabra is probably up there with areas with access to facilities. The library is good, it has a good local gym in the Bogies, due to the location there is access to the best that Dublin has to offer (ie. the Phoenix Park, Mater Hospital, M50, transport links to all the universities, Dalymount Park and that other little place Croke Park). There is a supposed anti-social element in the area but I would say that is not in the vicinity of Swilly and that I have since moved to a more "affluent" area where that exists equally. All in all, I would say that if the missus wasn't so much of a southsider and a home bird, I would be back in Cabra in a jiffy.
Good luck in whatever you decide to do...