Permission Granted For IKEA To Open In Dublin

Furniture.ie has learned that the retail giant IKEA was granted planning permission to open in Dublin. A number of conditions are attached to the development but these should not be a problem for a company with a turnover greater than €15 billion. This is approximately 15 times the size of the current furnishing market in Ireland.

A number of conditions in the planning application relate to traffic - this is a key area as the proposed store is located close to the M50 which is already at near full capacity. By staying open late IKEA aims to reduce their impact on traffic volumes during peak hours.

We have followed the possible arrival of IKEA for some time and believe it will benefit the Irish furniture marketplace as a whole. IKEA, like Ryanair, portray themselves as offering very cheap prices, but in reality consumers need to be aware that some products are cheap and others are in line with the marketplace in general. The biggest advantage IKEA can offer is a one stop shop for the home - something which very few retailers have successfully achieved. We believe that it will be the final quarter of 2007 before the store will be open in Dublin.