Importer, I don't doubt for a moment that you had a difficult time, but at least you can say that you actually lived there.
I don't deny, either, that Clondalkin has, like everywhere else, areas and estates which have been blighted by social problems. So has Rathfarnham, so has Dundrum, so has, saints preserve us, that bastion of good-living and media darling, Dun Laoghaire. The unfortunate thing for Clondalkin was that the media locked in on bad times and hard times in the early 80's and beyond and decided that 'Clondalkin', which in fact run from Newlands Cross over to Lucan and Bluebell to Rathcoole, was a den of iniquity and a hotbed of scumbags. Any news report just mentioned 'Clondalkin' without specifying the particular sub-area.
The main problem I, and others, had earlier on in this thread was that one person decided to give an 'opinion', which, it would seem, was based entirely on those unfortunate media reports I mentioned in the last paragraph.
To drag this thread kicking and screaming back on-topic, I would say to the OP that I did the daily Clondalkin-Blackrock trip for a while some years ago, and I can say from experience (and not 'opinion'!) that the bus journey makes a real 12-hour day out of your trip. Bus into town --> bus to Blackrock and then the other way around. I enjoyed living in Clondalkin, but for this reason above any other, I would recommend the OP to look elsewhere.