Plans for the heart of Ireland's first new town to be built this century have been lodged with planning authorities.
Over two thousand jobs are to be created as part of ambitious plans for the €1.2 billion Adamstown Central development, which is expected to grow to the size of Sligo or Dundalk by 2015.
A planning application was submitted this morning to South Dublin County Council for a leisure centre, cinema, library, church, restaurants and apartments at the site.
Civic, residential, community and commercial facilities will compare favourably with city districts in Ireland and Europe, the developers claim.
A spokesman for developer Castlethorn Construction said: "The urban design masterpiece for Adamstown Central draws its influence from across Europe, some of them historical, including the intimate street patterns and public spaces of the 12th century French Bastides settlements.
"The design is comprised of a network of new public squares and numerous intimately planned primary and secondary streets."
The 20-acre town centre will be beside Adamstown train station and schools which opened in 2007 near Lucan.
If the project wins planning approval, there should be over 2,500 new jobs created in the area. There will be 60 retailers and 900 apartments with underground parking serving a population expected to grow to 30,000.
The buildings have been designed to save energy, using renewable sources as well as reductions in CO2 emissions, equivalent to the heating energy required for a thousand homes.
It will encourage less car usage through improved public transport and has won several awards since the first sod was turned by the Taoiseach in 2005.
Developers have claimed that the centre of Adamstown will set new benchmarks for urban planning in Europe.