The Ballymun regeneration company will begin immediate moves to have Ireland's first Ikea store located on the north Dublin site following the Government decision yesterday.
The removal of the cap on the size of retail outlets was welcomed by Mr Ciarán Murray, of Ballymun Regeneration Company Ltd, who said that if everything went ahead without problems the store could be opened by the end of 2006.
If Ikea opts for the Ballymun site, planning permission would have to be sought. The site is located at the junction of the M50 and the increase in traffic would be a consideration.
Mr Tim O'Sullivan, of the roads and traffic department, Dublin City Council, said that if and when a planning application came in, it would have to be looked at nationally.
"Basically, if this does come in as a planning application, we would be looking at the traffic question from a national perspective," he said.
There would have to be a detailed traffic assessment because of its size and it would be a national centre, drawing people from all over the island, he said.
There would be huge issues of parking for such a furniture retailer as customers would be using cars and not taking public transport.
However, he said other developers would probably be hoping to acquire Ikea, but Ballymun had a top-class motorway which would be even better when it was expanded.
Mr Murray said the Government's decision was great news as it would facilitate Ikea coming to Ballymun. Ikea saw Ballymun as its preferred site, he said.
Other developers would be vying for it, he said, but the Ballymun site was close to the Port Tunnel so delivery lorries and trucks would not be impeding traffic.
It was also on the orbital motorway which was connected to the major routes and near the airport. So it would be ideally located.
Mr Murray said they had looked at other Ikea sites in Britain, like Glasgow and Neasden. The traffic generated was usually 4,000 to 5,000 traffic movements daily, with parking spaces used only twice or three times."It is a red herring to throw in the traffic argument," Mr Murray said.
Mr Éamon Ryan TD, of the Green Party, said the National Roads Authority acknowledged that even the proposed new sections of the M50 would be congested by 2008.
"In these circumstances it seems madness to allow a new mega store to locate on the busiest section of the M50," he said.
ISME, the independent business organisation, strongly criticised the decision to remove the cap on retail planning guidelines, describing it as a direct attack on smaller indigenous retailers and suppliers.