Almost half the population of south Dublin believe the area has improved in the past five years and 42 per cent believe it is better than any other part of the State, according to a survey commissioned by the South Dublin County Development Board.
Just under 90 per cent believe shopping facilities are good, 73 per cent feel it is a good place to bring up children, and 26 per cent say the one thing they want to see implemented over the next five years is more recreational facilities.
A further 23 per cent believe better roads are the single biggest improvement that should be implemented, while 12 per cent want cleaner streets.
The interviews with 300 of the area's 240,000 residents found that 17 per cent thought the area had disimproved, while 27 per cent felt it was "more or less the same" as five years ago.
The survey looked at the attitudes and aspirations of residents of the county in terms of quality of life and the provision of services.
It was undertaken as part of preparations for the county's development strategy.
The administrative county of south Dublin stretches from Rathfarnham and Templeogue, across Knocklyon, Firhouse, Clondalkin and Tallaght, out to Lucan, the fastest-growing area in the State, and Palmerston.
Shopping, education and banking are considered the top three services in the region according to those surveyed and Ms Philomena Pool, the board's director, said it "pleased us that 73 per cent felt it was a good place to bring up children".
The board aims to open up and improve all services and ensure they they all apply equally, so that in education for example "the same standard applies whether you are from Quarryvale or Templogue".
Some 12 per cent of those surveyed felt the area was worse than anywhere else in the State, while 31 per cent felt it was the same.
"The longer people live in the community the better they rated it," said the chairman of the county development board, Mr John Hannon.
Of those surveyed, 27 per cent feel the quality of life has disimproved because of poor roads, while 20 per cent cite not enough services as the reason for the disimprovement and 18 per cent just do not feel safe.
On the other hand 38 per cent feel there are better services overall than five years previously, while 37 per cent feel they have a better quality of life.
Some 27 per cent believe that transport and roads have improved.
In the survey conducted by Lansdowne Market Research, 46 per cent felt the traffic situation was the issue that impacted most negatively on them, while 14 per cent cited social/affordable housing, 7 per cent cited public transport services and 5 per cent were most concerned about policing and the justice system.
Only 5.2 per cent of the population are over 65 years of age.
There is a youth dependency rate of 40 per cent compared to 36 per cent nationally. Unemployment overall in the region is 4.4 per cent, there are 3,500 businesses in the county including 11 of the top 100 and two business parks.
Mr Hannon said the results brought the board's focus on the "real issues" of concern for residents, and would assist them in providing "joined up government" and "seamless services" to the population.
Ms Poole said there was a "positive approach" from all the agencies, they were all keen to work together to provide better services.
The south Dublin county area was established in 1994 and a large section of that part of Dublin city was developed in the 1970s.
The survey confirmed that the development board was "on the right track" and Ms Poole emphasised that views given by respondents were unprompted, and therefore they could be taken to be a more representative picture of the issues which were of greatest concern to the community.
