Also bear in mind Adamstown and the number of new units coming on release there too.
I know someone who had an awful job trying to sell in Hermitage and they had an awful lot of rental properties on their road that were in a poor condition that was putting people off.
I did not eventually stay in Lucan, (would have liked to stay in one of the older estates) the areas I looked at included Clondalkin Village(I am originally from Clondalkin) but all of the areas I would like to move to in Clondalkin were outside my budget, Rathcoole, Celbridge, Kilcock, Maynooth, Straffan and finally Kill. I narrowed it down to Maynooth and Kill. I chose Kill in the end because taking all things into account, proximity to work,( I will be turning off at the Kingswood Interchange for Grange Castle) size of village, price of house, etc., it suited me. There is not much in Kill, but it has exactly what I want - a shop, a pub, a chipper, a nice village atmosphere. Everything else is within a short driving distance so will see how it goes. There are probably more people in my old Estate in Lucan than in the whole of Kill and that suits me fine.
My sister was looking at the same time as me (she moved from Clondalkin) and she settled on Celbridge. Her house is lovely (Oldtown Mill) she only moved in yesterday. For me, the area in general was very like Lucan (lots of new developments on all sides), so thats why I decided on something smaller this time. Having said that, she got a lovely house (about 1,300 sq ft) in a lovely cul-de sac and there seems to be a fair bit in Celbridge for the little one starting school next year. Enrolled in the school within walking distance. So in all its different strokes for different folks.
Tarquin, I note you said you were interested in Maynooth. If its of any interest to you, I got a text this afternoon from Coonan Auctioneers about a new development of 3 bed mid terrace and end terrace properties from €380K. Dont know anything at all about the development as I did not look into it.
Best of luck for anyone deciding to move. In defence of Lucan, I never had one problem with anti social behaviour, was never broken into, etc in all of the six years that I spent there. In my estate, it was more the lack of community spirit and dont care attitude of the renters.