The Square to get €250m expansion

ALMOST 20 years after Charles Haughey opened The Square town centre in Tallaght, it is to undergo its first major expansion project, centre director Eamonn Furlong announced yesterday.

Having been dwarfed by a succession of bigger and brasher town centres over the decades, The Square now hopes to double in size to 25,000sq m, with the added units in the €250 million regeneration anchored by the overdue arrival of discount clothing chain Penneys.

The launch at The Square’s UCI Cinemas – itself destined to be overtaken by a new multiplex “the size of a football pitch” – was missing its guest of honour, Penneys chairman Arthur Ryan.

The publicity-shy Mr Ryan cancelled his appearance – although given his reputation for sneaking into his stores wearing a rumpled old mac to protect his privacy it’s possible that the veteran retailer was camouflaged in the crowd.

Paddy Prior, Penneys’ finance director, was on hand to sum up the company’s frustration. “We’ve been trying to open here since the beginning. But the last document I signed was in 2005. I just hope we can get on with it.”

The Square expansion project has been delayed by a legal dispute between developer Noel Smyth, and a company originally controlled by Larry O’Mahony and Thomas McFeely, and now controlled by embattled developer Liam Carroll. The company owns a car parking licence on the grounds on which Mr Smyth wants to expand The Square, a move that could add 4,000 retail jobs plus an extra 2,000 construction jobs.

The Square is now putting pressure on South Dublin County Council to issue a compulsory purchase order (CPO) to acquire the licence so it can go ahead with the expansion next year.