The Square Tallaght is a

shopping centre A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

located in

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Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, opened in 1990. It is located 10 minutes from junction 11 of the M50 motorway on the Belgard Road (the R113) and the N81. The centre comprises 53,000 m² of retail space, spread across three levels, and as of 2016 has up to 163 stores. It has an annual footfall of 21.7 million. There are over 2500 car parking spaces. The anchor tenants are Dunnes Stores, Penneys and Tesco. When The Square opened it was the largest shopping centre in

History

The centre was opened on 23 October 1990, in the presence of 45,000 people, by then

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Charles Haughey, having been built at a cost of £85 million. Others who were in attendance included

Gay Byrne Gabriel Mary "Gay" Byrne (5 August 1934 – 4 November 2019) was an Irish presenter and host of radio and television. His most notable role was first host of '' The Late Late Show'' over a 37-year period spanning 1962 until 1999. ''The Late Lat ...

, who hosted his radio show from the "Crows Nest" in the shopping centre, as well as

Mary Harney Mary Harney (born 11 March 1953) is an Irish former politician and the current Chancellor of the University of Limerick. She was leader of the Progressive Democrats party between 1993 and 2006 and again from 2007 to 2008, resuming the role aft ...

Pat Rabbitte Pat Rabbitte (born 18 May 1949) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources from 2011 to 2014, Leader of the Labour Party from 2002 to 2007 and a Minister of State from 199 ...

, the then Director-General of RTÉ Vincent Finn and the

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil � ...

leader at the time

Alan Dukes Alan Dukes (born 1945) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Minister for Transport, Energy and Communication from 1996 to 1997, Leader of the Opposition and Leader of Fine Gael from 1987 to 1990, Minister for Justice from 1986 t ...

. It was the first of four large shopping complexes built in the suburban centres surrounding

from the late 1980s onwards and was for a while the largest shopping centre in Ireland. The others are Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, Liffey Valley Shopping Centre and

Dundrum Town Centre Dundrum Town Centre is a shopping centre located in Dundrum, Dublin, Ireland. It is Ireland's largest shopping centre with over 169 tenants, almost of floor space, and over 3,400 car parking spaces. It is located just south of the village ce ...

. The opening of the centre would be the first of many new developments in the area over the coming years. Technological University Dublin, the

National Basketball Arena National Basketball Arena, also known as Tallaght Arena, is an indoor sporting arena located in Tymon Park, Tallaght, South Dublin, adjacent to the M50 motorway. The capacity of the arena is 2,500 people and it opened in January 1993. It is u ...

(The Arena), the Civic Theatre and Tallaght University Hospital all opened within a few years of the shopping centre. The centre celebrated its 25th anniversary on 23 October 2015. The centre was later granted permission by

An Bord Pleanála (; meaning "The Planning Board"; ABP) is an independent, statutory, quasi-judicial body that decides on appeals from planning decisions made by local authorities in the Republic of Ireland. As of 2007, An Bord Pleanála directly decided major ...

for a major redevelopment to the centre. The proposed project would add about 200,000 square feet of retail space. On 23 October 2020, it was announced that the planned expansion of The Square had been postponed, with management Sigma Retail Partners blaming the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Facilities

The Square is not only a commercial but also a civic centre, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners have an office there as does the Department of Social Protection, the Health Service Executive (HSE) the Eastern Region and FÁS share a building on the car park of level one. In addition, both the headquarters of

South Dublin County Council South Dublin County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Átha Cliath Theas) is the authority responsible for local government in the county of South Dublin, Ireland. It is one of three local authorities created by the Local Government (Dublin) Act ...

and the Tallaght branch of South Dublin Libraries are adjacent to the site. A Civic Theatre is located close to The Square Town centre, which hosts theatre, music, dance, opera and comedy. The Tallaght University Hospital is also located nearby. It has 3 floors and a car park, due to a woman suing the centre, the lifts have been replaced.

Public transport

The centre is served by the Luas Red Line, the nearest stop for the shopping centre is the terminus at

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. The Square Shopping Centre is also served by 10 bus routes which are the 27, 49, 54a, 56a, 65, 75, 76, 76a, 77a and the 175. IMG 0557w

References

External links

The Square Shopping Centre

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Square Shopping Centre Shopping centres in County Dublin Tallaght Buildings and structures in South Dublin (county) 1990 establishments in Ireland Shopping malls established in 1990