LIFFEY VALLEY SHOPPING CENTRE

02/11/2023

I started out with the intention of visiting Chapelizod today and got the the G2 bus instead of the 26. I knew that the 26 served Chapelizod on it way to Liffey Valley but I missed the 26 by about two minutes and the G2 which goes to Liffey Valley arrived a few minutes later so I boarded it. Much to my surprise it took a very long time to get to Liffey Valley and did not pass through Chapelizod. I was even more surprised to discover that there was a major transport hub at the shopping centre.

Liffey Valley Shopping Centre is a shopping centre located in Dublin 22, Ireland which Comprises 80 stores and 20 Restaurants. The centre opened on 14 October 1998 and is located near the junction of the M50 motorway and N4 road closely surrounded by Lucan to the west, Palmerstown Village to the east and Clondalkin to the south. The centre was a scaled-down replacement for a much larger complex once mooted for the site, known as Quarryvale, the development of which was highly controversial. After over a decade without major development, the centre was extended in 2016.

For two decades an actual "town centre" had been planned in a central location to serve the Lucan, Clondalkin and Palmerstown areas. But Liffey Valley was built to the northeastern extremity of the area it was originally planned to serve. This meant, as noted by Jerry Barnes, chairman of the Royal Town Planning Institute, that the residents of Lucan, Clondalkin and Palmerstown "have been left for 20 years without an appropriately centrally located town centre which is easily accessible to all. This has very serious long-term implications for thousands of people".

Thirty Dublin councillors were investigated by the Mahon Tribunal over allegations about accepting bribes relating to the rezoning of land in Quarryvale.