Fianna Fáil has called on Dublin City Council to invest in the development of the vacant Ballymun Shopping Centre.

Dublin City Councillor Paul McAuliffe made the call following confirmation that leading French sports retailer, Decathlon, has reached agreement with the council to purchase land close to IKEA in Ballymun.

It is believed the retailer will develop the site to open one of their new stores in Ireland.

Cllr McAuliffe said: "This kind of 'big box' retail has every potential to deliver more local jobs for people in our community and any size investment in the Ballymun area is to be supported.

-- Advertisement --

"I am concerned however, that more is not being done by the City Council to attract investment to the old shopping centre site which is due to be demolished in October and rebuilt with new retail facilities.

"It's somewhat difficult for the people of Ballymun to welcome good news like this on one hand when a derelict shopping centre in a prime location in the heart of our village remains idle.

"In this particular instance, city planners have informed me that the kind of development plans proposed by the French retailer are not suitable for the main street of a town but that is not to say we can't proactively do more to attract interest from other retailers.

"If the Council can secure investment of this scale from overseas then it can certainly aim to provide decent shopping facilities for residents in the Ballymun area.

"In more recent years, poor planning decisions such as the one agreed to build Charlestown Shopping Centre on the outskirts of both Finglas and Ballymun have undermined the potential to bring shops to urban villages in North Dublin."

(CD/LM)