Bought for €115m by Michael O’Flynn 20 years ago, work now set to begin at Long Mile Rd site

The Naas Rd/Long Mile Rd has been an important stretch for centuries, originally for coaches in the 1700s and as the main road out of the capital to the South-West.

Michelle O’Flynn, Property / Development Director, O’Flynn Group, Michael O’Flynn, Founder and CEO, O’Flynn Group, An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, Minister for Housing James Browne John Coleman, CEO, LDA and Sharon Geraghty, chief of staff, LDA, at the LDA and the O’Flynn Group announcement of plans to deliver 542 new homes in Dublin. The new A-rated apartments are being delivered as part of Southwest Gate, a landmark residential scheme on the Naas Road in Dublin 12. Picture: Naoise Culhane

The expression ‘It’s a long road with no turning’ has an Irish resonance.

The phrase was the title of a 1961 John B Keane novel: 65 years later, Irish developer Michael O’Flynn has a novel take on long, long roads, or specifically the Long Mile Rd in Dublin, where he paid €115m 20 years ago to car distributor Nissan for its 18-acre HQ.