Lucan,County Dublin

Lucan is generally considered in two parts - old Lucan, and new Lucan. Old Lucan consists of the main town of Lucan, containing smaller roads and shops, resting in the Liffey Valley. New Lucan is considered to be the majority of the newer housing developments, built South of the main town, out of the valley, and stretching as far as Clondalkin.

Lucan has undergone enormous change since the early-1990s. It is road after road of identical houses occupied by the new aspiring middle classes, or "decklanders", as economist David McWilliams terms them. After the building of the M50 motorway and N4 interchange, and the staggering increase in house prices and jobs during the Celtic Tiger era of the 1990s, Lucan quickly became one of the more reasonably priced areas in the south Dublin area. Given its easy access to Dublin City and relatively modest house prices compared to older more established areas in closer proximity to Dublin City many thousands of homes were built in a matter of years. Building development is still ongoing on a large, albeit reduced scale today. Where once it was considered as a completely separate satellite town of Dublin, Lucan is now perceived as part of the Dublin urban area (although the M50 motorway ensures that the two do not physically merge with each other), and it is the first town one meets when leaving Dublin on the N4.

Although there has been a substantial increase in housing built in the Lucan area in recent times, development of recreational, cultural and commercial facilities have been minimal, leaving young people in particular with little to do. However, the fact that Lucan enjoys one of the highest rates of third level entry in the country speaks volumes of the youth in the area. This is partly because Lucan is located within 15 km of four universities, three in Dublin and one in Maynooth, plus Dublin Institute of Technology.

With the large population increases came jobs and high-profile retail developments, but traffic congestion has become a major problem. The N4 is considered one of the most congested roads in the city; particularly where it meets the M50, as traffic regularly stretches back for up to 5 kilometres at rush hour. Upgrade schemes are currently under construction for both the N4 and N4/M50 interchange to help remedy these problems.