Councillors hear of plan to resurrect Tallaght’s nightlife

Plans are afoot to resurrect Tallaght’s nightlife.

At this month’s meeting of South Dublin County Council, councillors were shown plans to help Tallaght come alive after hours.

Director of Housing at South Dublin County Council, Jason Frehill, told councillors that the council wanted to bring “some vibrancy and vitality to the town centre that presently isn’t there.”

Documentation shown to councillors noted that “a thriving economy should encourage vibrant and welcoming plazas, good transportation and a well-connected community.”

With a population of over 80,000 as of the 2022 census, a major jump from the 60,000 figure in the 2002 census, enhancing Tallaght nightlife is seen as the next step in keeping people within the confines of Tallaght and making people spend locally instead of travelling into the city centre.

Frehill noted that there are high rates of vacancy in Tallaght town centre, with 18 units lying vacant in the area; he identified those as prime locations for the rejuvenation project.

“They need to be making a contribution to the town centre and bringing vibrancy and vitality to the place,” he said.

The Tallaght Town Centre Local Area Plan, which the council projects will create 11,000 new homes in the area (and 30,000 new residents to go along with it), is running concurrently with the nightlife plans.

“There’s also going to be 15,000 new jobs; they need public amenities, they need somewhere to go in the evening time for something to eat or drink, go to the theatre, and build on the cultural side of what we see in Tallaght.”

Frehill noted that €80 million has been spent on infrastructure within Tallaght in recent years, and said the plan is “building upon it instead of resting on our laurels.”

Frehill said it was “absolutely fantastic” that Tallaght is a multi-cultural society, and said that the plans should cater to people from different cultural backgrounds.

He said the recent development of Parthalán Place, along with a series of pilot events, are a proof of concept of what could be done with evening-time events in Tallaght.

He pointed to Smithfield Square on the Northside, the home of the recent Twinkletown Christmas market, as well as College Green on the Southside, as examples of what Tallaght’s evening life could be like.

The Twinkletown Christmas Market contributed €12 million to the North Inner City in the final weeks of 2025, a statistic which Lord Mayor Ray McAdam hailed as a “major success.”

This month’s meeting of Dublin City Council heard that 600,000 people visited the Christmas market in Smithfield, with major economic benefits and increased footfall in the local area.

College Green has played a major part in recent college football games in the Dublin city centre, with the now-annual College Football Classic at the Aviva Stadium bringing in over €130m for the Irish economy and College Green serving as a focal point for visitors.

Tallaght Stadium, home to Shamrock Rovers, is anticipated to hold a “large-scale event” this year, the meeting was told, with the stadium capable of being expanded to a 20,000 capacity stadium for a concert.

South Dublin County Council commissioned a community survey, which received 845 responses; over 50% of those surveyed highlighted the importance of safety and passive surveillance in Tallaght town centre during the evening hours, over 60% said that “enhancing” the overall atmosphere in the town centre should be a focus area and nearly 70% polled expressed interest in a “broader range of activities” in the town centre.

Frehill said the survey feedback was “really important,” and that the takeaway wasn’t that more businesses are needed, it’s that people simply want more events in the area.

He said that for scale, cities like Kilkenny, Blackburn and Drogheda should be looked to as examples of how to carry out events in cities that have a similar population to Tallaght.

The council came to the conclusion that an “enlarged, multi-use plaza” should be the focal point for Tallaght’s evening-time economy, exploring the development of a new cultural hub in Parthalán Place, holding concerts in Tallaght Stadium, and establishing a dedicated events team on South Dublin County Council.

Frehill noted that an expanded plaza would help cater to different age groups, at different times of the day, saying it was important that all age groups were catered to in the process of developing social vibrancy in Tallaght.

Independent councillor Liona O’Toole said, “it’s great to see this happen, but to make this happen, we need to bring the people to it, and you need to make it accessible for people outside Tallaght to get to it; at the moment, the connectivity from Lucan to get to Tallaght is not easy.”

She noted that it took a decade for the W4 bus route to come on stream and be integrated into the network, and that bus connections need to be improved for the project to work.

“We need to expand connectivity between the far side of the county, from one side to the other,” the Lucan councillor said.

People Before Profit councillor Jess Spear said the idea of more events in Tallaght is “super welcome,” and questioned if the council was going to acquire privately-owned land in order to expand the planned plaza.

The Tallaght Central councillor welcomed the idea of Tallaght Stadium becoming a major part of the Tallaght evening-time economy, but said that public transport links to the stadium need to be improved for the plan to work.

She said it was a “nightmare” to go from Cookstown Way to Tallaght Stadium by bike, and said that the N81 should also be improved in terms of accessibility.

“The Luas Red Line is right there, it can take you right to Tallaght Stadium but it’s at capacity – if you’re having concerts, which we absolutely want to have, we desperately need more carriages.”

Independent councillor Paddy Holohan said that there is “so much” that can be done to make tourists stay (and indeed, spend) in Tallaght instead of staying in the city centre.

Holohan noted that the proximity to the Wicklow Way should be utilised to attract tourists, and said that the large number of American tourists who visit Ireland to explore Irish history should be taken advantage of.

“We maybe take it for granted because we live here, but we have a beautiful view of the mountains; we need to focus on the Irish culture and history that we have here,” the Tallaght councillor said.

Fianna Fáil councillor Adam Smyth said that more needs to be done to cater for people who don’t consume alcohol, noting he has a family member who doesn’t drink, yet finds it hard to take part in social activities in Tallaght without alcohol being involved.

“It’s great to see more events on in the area, like concerts, anything like that, linking into the heritage or arts centre, is very welcome,” he said.

The Tallaght Central councillor noted that the recent Irish Darts Youth Championships were held in Tallaght, along with the European version, and said it was “important” for people visiting Tallaght for sporting events to have other things to do outside of sporting activities.

Responding to councillors’ feedback, Frehill stated that the future success of Tallaght is contingent on developing public transport.

“We are looking at the mobility hub, which is right beside the Luas stop, but that is going to be a significant development,” noting that 40 buses an hour will be leaving it once it is up and running.

“We are in ongoing discussions with the NTA and TII all the time, and we know that capacity is going to have to increase on the Red line” and said there are “active conversations” about increasing capacity.

He acknowledged the rollout of BusConnects has been “challenging,” but expressed confidence that once the issues are ironed out, it would become a major component in getting people to and from events in Tallaght. 

In response to councillor Holohan’s suggestions, Frehill said that plans were in the works from Failté Ireland to create a Dublin Mountains experience which connects Tallaght to the Dublin Mountains.

People Before Profit councillor Kay Keane expressed regret that Metallica’s two nights in the Aviva in June were sold out, and hoped that the council would get them to play Tallaght Stadium.

In the one rare instance of People Before Profit and Fianna Fáil agreeing on something, Fianna Fáil councillor and Deputy Mayor Trevor Gilligan said, “it sounds like a great evening, a bit of dancing, a bit of Metallica and a bit of darts.”

Frehill said, “we’ll talk to Metallica and see what we can do; it’ll be sold out, no two ways about it! And it’s the right demographic for our first concert, we’d like to get a certain age cohort there.”