Ikea superstore gets green light after cap lifted
However, Mr Roche said the decision would only allow for “a once-off development” by Ikea in Ballymun and “would not open the floodgates” to other similar, large superstores.
The minister said he believed the project would also play a key part in the regeneration programme for the north Dublin suburb.
IKEA has been lobbying the Government for several years to remove the cap on retail store sizes and recently warned that it might abandon its plans to open an outlet in the Republic in favour of a new stores in the North. However, the decision in favour of the company is now expected to result in a €100 million investment by Ikea in a store at Ballymun which will lead to the creation of around 500 jobs in the area.
The facility is likely to be around five times the size of the maximum retail space allowed under current legislation.
Guidelines which limit large retail outlets to 6,000sq mts were introduced in 2001 amid concern at the threat which large hyperstores planned by multinationals posed to established, indigenous operators.
A current review of the legislation is likely to recommend that the present limit on store size should be kept in place.
Meanwhile, Mr Roche has asked department officials to examine how existing guidelines could be changed legislatively to allow for the development of the Ikea store. Although the mechanism has yet to be determined, some planning experts believe no alterations will be required as the Ikea facility is not a warehouse as defined in the existing guidelines.
Mr Roche said he was also conscious of local concern in Ballymun about the suitability of the proposed site for the Ikea facility near the M50.
However, he believed any issues in relation to access, traffic management and safety by local residents could be satisfactorily addressed at the planning stages of the development.
Business and trade organisations including IBEC, ISME and RGDATA have opposed any alteration to the current cap, claiming large-scale, out-of-town developments threaten the viability of existing urban and suburban centres.
The Irish Hardware and Building Materials Association has also maintained that Ikea has been willing to modify its standard store size in other countries where there are restrictions on retail area.
However, IHBMA secretary general Jim Goulding said the association would not oppose the Ikea facility so long as it was subjected to “the same rigorous examination on environmental and competition grounds as every other company.”
Mr Roche said he supported Ikea’s proposals in order to “strike a balance that is right for the consumer and the people of Ballymun”.
The decision is expected to be welcomed by the Ballymun Regeneration, the company responsible for overseeing a €2 billion redevelopment programme which included the demolition of the suburb’s infamous high-rise tower blocks and construction of 5,000 new homes in the area.
