Retail furniture giant Ikea opens its first Irish store in Belfast this week but plans for an early opening of its Dublin store remain stalled.
The Swedish retailer has said it would like to open near the Ballymun interchange on the M50 next August.
However, the 30,000 sq m store is not likely to open before 2010 after the National Roads Authority (NRA) confirmed that phase two of the M50 upgrade, which includes the feeder roads to the planned store, will not be completed before then.
It was a condition of the planning permission granted to Ikea last June that the store could not be opened until upgrading of the interchange was completed.
An NRA spokeswoman said the contract to upgrade the M50 had been awarded to the Icon consortium, comprising PJ Hegarty & Sons and two Spanish construction firms.
The section of the M50 between the M1 and the N2 is due to be completed in 2009, and the sections between the N2 and N3, and Ballymount to Sandyford, the following year.
Ikea, which will employ 500 people in the Dublin store, has been lobbying the NRA and Fingal County Council to get completion of the work brought forward.
During the planning appeal hearing, the Bord Pleanála inspector warned that the project could become a white elephant if forced to lie idle for a year or more pending the upgrade of the road infrastructure.
The Belfast store, which opens on Thursday, is expected to attract large numbers of customers from the Republic. Ikea has begun a television advertising campaign in the Republic and has distributed 640,000 leaflets as part of an attempt to lure shoppers to the new outlet.
The retailer is operating a home delivery service in the Republic, although prices vary according to the distance from the store. Householders in Dublin and in the Border counties of Louth, Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal will pay £100 (€140) for two pallets. A single pallet can take an item as large as a sofa or a bed.
However, householders in the rest of the Republic will only be given a price on request for home delivery.
The kitchen installation service will also only be available to customers in Northern Ireland.
At 29,000 sq m, the Belfast store will stock the full range of Ikea products, totalling 9,500 items.
As in Dublin, Ikea's Belfast store has prompted claims that it will cause severe traffic congestion. The North's Green Party has said it is concerned that not enough provision has been made for an increase in traffic near Belfast's airport when the store opens.
The retail park is situated on the major arterial A2 route into Belfast from the east of the city and north Down and already sees heavy traffic congestion at peak times.
