The Square Tallaght facts for kids
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View of The Square in 2018
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| Location | Tallaght, Dublin, Ireland |
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| Coordinates | 53°17′13″N 6°22′18″W / 53.28694°N 6.37167°W |
| Address | The Square Towncentre Tallaght Dublin 24 |
| Opening date | 23 October 1990 |
| No. of stores and services | 163 |
| No. of floors | 3 (main levels) |
| Website | http://www.thesquare.ie/ |
The Square Tallaght is a shopping centre located in Tallaght, Dublin, Ireland, 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 and Tesco. When The Square opened it was the largest shopping centre in Ireland.
History
The centre was opened on 23 October 1990 in the presence of 45,000 people by An Taoiseach at the time Charles Haughey, having been built at a cost of £85 million. Others who were in attendance was Gay Byrne, who hosted his 2FM radio show from the Crows Nest in the shopping centre, as well as Mary Harney, Pat Rabbitte, the then Director-General of RTÉ Vincent Finn and the Fine Gael leader at the time Alan Dukes.
It was the first of four large shopping complexes built in the towns surrounding Dublin 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.
The opening of the centre would be the beginning of many new developments in the area over the coming years. Institute of Technology, Tallaght (ITT), the National Basketball Arena (The Arena), the Civic Theatre and Tallaght Hospital all opened within a few years of the shopping centre opening its doors, signifying its importance to the area.
The centre celebrated its 25th anniversary on October 23, 2015. The centre was recently granted permission by An Bord Pleanála for a major redevelopment to the centre. The proposed project will add c. 200,000 sq.ft of retail space to the The Square Shopping Centre.
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 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 Adelaide and Meath Hospital is also located nearby.
Public transport
The centre is served by the Luas Red Line, the nearest stop for the shopping centre is the terminus at Tallaght.
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.
