Estates in Lucan?

[Green]

No offence YOBR, but do you have kids? Or are you aware of the schools issue in Lucan south?

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No, I am not aware of the schools issue in Lucan South...however the original poster did not indicate whether schools were an issue for her..

"Most of the other estates are nice, but to be honest I just feel that there are too many houses and each estate just blends into each other. I would say there is very little anti social behaviour in any of them." That quote could equally apply to any estate in Lucan once you turn past the Foxhunter..

 

[redo]

#
No, I am not aware of the schools issue in Lucan South...however the original poster did not indicate whether schools were an issue for her..

"Most of the other estates are nice, but to be honest I just feel that there are too many houses and each estate just blends into each other. I would say there is very little anti social behaviour in any of them." That quote could equally apply to any estate in Lucan once you turn past the Foxhunter..

Fair enough YOBR. However, for people WITH kids, this is a major criterion in chosing a place to buy. If it doesn't affect the the OP now, it may do, when they decide to sell.

 

[deedee80]

Originally Posted by YOBR http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?p=522680#post522680
Speaking as a Lucanite, I don't know why there is this obsession with St Mary's Parish. There are other estates, outside of Mary's, with equally good houses.

Fair enough YOBR. However, for people WITH kids, this is a major criterion in chosing a place to buy. If it doesn't affect the the OP now, it may do, when they decide to sell.

Exactly. I don't have kids but I hope to have them some day and really took this into consideration when buying my home as I plan to stay here for a good while. I personally love living in St. Marys, little things like going to mass in the village, might not appeal to others but it did to me, also the shools issue. I don't dispute that there are lovely houses in Lucan South, alot of which are quite new which is also appealing to a ftb. The OP asked for advice and having been in the same position a few months ago I offered advice which was my personal opinion. I was not dismissing Lucan South, I feel that Lucan in general is a lovely place to live.

 

[Green]

Just to add, it took me 1 hour and 25 minutes to travel home yesterday on the 17.35 25x. The 25x pulled out from Pearse St Garda Station at 17.35 and 30 minutes later we had reached the start of O'Connell Street...

 

[liffey]

What is the issue with schools in Lucan south - is it the lack of spaces or are the schools just not good enough......

 

[deedee80]

Just to add, it took me 1 hour and 25 minutes to travel home yesterday on the 17.35 25x. The 25x pulled out from Pearse St Garda Station at 17.35 and 30 minutes later we had reached the start of O'Connell Street...

The whole city was affected by the bus strike on Wednesday, traffic was at a standstill everywhere according to the traffice news. 1hr 35 mins is not the norm to get to Lucan by any means, I travel home from the city centre every day and this was definitely out of the ordinary on Wednesday.

 

[jonnyhotspur]

What is the issue with schools in Lucan south - is it the lack of spaces or are the schools just not good enough......

I don't have children and live in Esker parish in Lucan so I'm not an expert but I do have a lot of friends in South Lucan. They send their children to the local Gaelscoil (Esker Riada) or the Griffeen Educate Together school. They never have anything bad to say about the places.
I don't now anything about the Archbishop Ryan National school.
There was historically a problem with places before the Educate Together school was built 3 or 4 years ago. Don't know if the problem still exists.

 

[terrysgirl33]

We're facing into our first going to school next year in Lucan South, so well aware of this issue. The problem is a lack of school places, rather than the quality of the schools. I know parents with their children in Griffeen Educate Together, Lucan Educate Together and Gaelscoil Naomh Pádraig, and they are all very happy with the quality of the schools, these are also fairly newly built schools. I don't know anyone with a child in Archbishop Ryan NS, but I've heard pretty good things about it, but it's very very overcrowded (and half an hour walk from our house).

The main problem is if you move into the area with older children. We put our children down soon after they were born, and we have a choice of any of the schools.

 

[Shrimp]

Let's stop being polite....the 'newer' parts of Lucan are Godforsaken hell-holes, unless your idea of heaven is concrete/roundabouts/crime/ Lidl/Aldi/Bookies/graffitti, with barely a patch of grass for a kid to kick a ball on. Most of the people who live there only do so because they can't, unfortunately, afford any better. If you want to see the ultimate example of urban 'planning' gone horribly wrong (see corruption in west Dublin) then visit New Lucan. It is dire. Old Lucan, if you can afford it, is still a lovely place to live, with good quality schools to match.

 

[MandaC]

Shrimp, I think you are going a bit far describing the new Estates as "Godforsaken hell holes". Its sometimes very hard to be objective and yet fair on this location, location, but those type of comments don't really help the discussion.

Lived in new Lucan for six years, thought there were way too much houses, houses, houses. The renters in my own estate had my head wrecked by not looking after the houses and the satellite dishes stuck over right over the front door big enough to launch a space shuttle, but that type of thing is my personal pet hate. Apart from that, didn't experience anything in the way of anti social behaviour. I have to say it wasn't for me, but I know a lot of people living in various estates who live on quiet cul de sacs and would not live anywhere else. These would be people who could well afford to live somewhere else if they wanted to.

roundabouts/crime/lidl/aldi/graffiti/bookies.... pretty much sums up just about any other area in Ireland these days. I have noticed a massive upsurge in the amount of graffiti everywhere around the city, not just in Lucan.

I agree about the bad planning, not unique to "new Lucan", look at Clonee and Swords, to name but two more. Driving through Johnstown in Navan always reminds me of the newer part of Lucan too. I also can't believe the amount of apartments that have sprung up around the Square in Tallaght over the past year or so. Now Newcastle looks like to be going down the same route too.

 

[terrysgirl33]

I've lived in Lucan for 9 years and will stay there unless we decide to move out of Dublin. There are plenty of green areas, good residents association (and good community spirit). We are 5 minutes walk from the park with the only playground in Lucan in it, and 4 minutes walk from a shop. Got an e-mail last night, and it looks like the Luas is moving ahead and should be completed sometime in 2010 (though I wouldn't hold my breath on it!!). One of the proposed routes runs through Lucan Village, the other from the Newcastle road, both accessible to us. It could be planned better, but there is some effort put into the planning.

For anyone interested in the proposed Luas line:
[broken link removed]

it contains a link to a map of the proposed routes.

 

[deedee80]

Wow Shrimp, don't hold back. Where as I agree that Old Lucan is a really lovely place to live, I certainly wouldn't describe all the newer parts of Lucan as "Godforsaken hell-holes"! That actually made me laugh when I read it.....I feel that peoples opinions of new Lucan are just crazy its like its a spreading epidemic. When I bought my house I had friends, who had never set foot in Lucan, asking whether I bought in the new or old part, their opinions obviously tainted on the new part from some source or another.....
There are some areas of the new part that definitely aren't great, I don't think I have to name them. But my personal opinion would be that some of the newer estates are very nice. I have formed this opinion as I have a dog that I walk every day, be it morning or night on different routes through various different housing estates (to keep the walk interesting for me as I am a newcomer to Lucan) and have never felt unsafe or surrounded by concrete in the estates (most of these estates have big green areas). To say that people buy there because they can't afford elsewhere is also untrue. I have friends living in new Lucan because they bought the houses when they were first built as this is what appealed to them, not because they were cheap. They could have bought cheaper in Hillcrest, Cherbury, Dodsborough or Sarsfield...., all of which could be described as Old Lucan. I really hate when people make sweeping comments like describing somewhere as a Godforsaken Hell Hole and then don't back it up with anything concrete. IMO Lucan is a great place to live with loads of ammenities, I love it here, I have great neighbours and feel that there is a real sense of community and were I upgrading I imagine I would upgrade in Lucan. I lived in Clonee before here which I feel better fit your description Shrimp, yet still feel that I would never refer to it as a Hell Hole....

 

[Sainttoff]

Shrimp your full of it lad!


We live in New lucan and there is more green parks in the area than there is in the whole village! DeeDee88, South Lucan is really nice, Haydens park is a lovely estate, they have a great community spirit there, cleans up their green every so often etc, but its in the worng parish for school reasons! Hence we didnt buy there.


There is loads of green space and the 25x and 25a servers the area very well. If your not concern with Parish, look at the following;

TullyHall, Rossberry, Haydens Park, Anywhere across the road from there also, all nice areas.

IF concern about the Parish, look at Grange Manor, Old Forge, JohnsBridge, Finnstown, get a good 3 bed for that price.


St Marys parish is more expensive but also houses are alot older so need more work to bring them back up to scratch and beaware the village gets blocked up alot with traffic.


We just moved from one estate to another in Lucan, so pm us and i can tell you more.

 

[deedee80]

DeeDee88, South Lucan is really nice, Haydens park is a lovely estate, they have a great community spirit there, cleans up their green every so often etc, but its in the worng parish for school reasons! Hence we didnt buy there.

That meant for me Sainttoff? Cos I agree with ya! I think the areas that you mentioned are all very nice and some really nice houses there for sale at the mo, if I was still looking I'd be very tempted.

 

[Sainttoff]

Sorry DeeDee, it was meant for the girl with the same user name that is looking around lucan!. All confusing

 

[Shrimp]

Apologies to any one who was offended by my views on 'new' Lucan, I was simply giving an honest personal opinion on an area of Dublin that I know very well (having lived there for 31 years, until leaving recently), that I find deeply depressing and, to me, is the ultimate manifestation of corruption and greed.

There are, of course, parts of new Lucan where there are patches of grass for kids to kick a ball, I was being sweeping, but most of it is grim with pitiful facilities for what is generally a young population. That isn't an opinion, that is a fact.

It is also a fact that houses in many of these new estates are amongst the cheapest in Dublin - cheaper even than the much maligned Ballyfermot - and are largely inhabited by people who couldn't afford to buy anywhere else. That isn't an insult, that is the truth. My point is the vast majority of these people would not, under any circumstances, choose to live in these - repeat - Godforsaken holes if they were fortunate enough to be able to afford a better area to live in.

Yes, there are other parts of Dublin that are just as ugly (eg a significant chunk of Blanchardstown), I don't think I claimed new Lucan was alone in this, but this monstrosity of suburban living is newer than most of these other areas, so the opportunity was there for the 'planners', God help us, to do better. They chose not to do better - see Tribunals.

Traffic? Yes, just about every corner of Ireland has traffic problems, but trust me, NOWHERE compares to Lucan. I lived in Finnstown for a while, it took me 20 minutes just to get out of the estate in the morning on to the Newcastle Road - and that was before Adamstown opened for business! And from there it got worse. I live in north Dublin now. The locals complain about the traffic, to me it is heavenly.

Remember the corrupt politican who was paid by developers to see to it that their new estates had a Lucan address, despite not being in Lucan? I know of a developer who has tried recently to see to it that his new creation doesn't have a Lucan address, despite being in Lucan.

Sorry, but I stand by my opinion.

 

[Sainttoff]

Shrimp;

There is plenty of Facilties for youths in Lucan, more than there is in Rathfarham, Terenure or Donnybrook even. I mean in Lucan you have a load of hurling pitches, a 8 screen (or more cinema) down the road, massive shopping centre, Running club and running track, an astro pitch across from Finnstown, Soccer pitches, safe to to go for a jog or walk around at night, unlike alot of areas, alot of community spirit, plenty of nice restaurants, baskeball courts, skate boarding area, one of few in Dublin, golf course, tennis courts, gyms, library. What more do you want for young people??

Regarding traffic, we have a bus lane all the way into city centre, and traffic is good around Lucan now, Newcastle Rd traffic is moving very well also, no delays on it. Was bad for awhile with road works but thats sorted.


Just like to also say, i lived in South Dublin before Lucan, and traffic is ten times better than South Dublin, you try moving towards city centre from Terenue, Rathfarham, or even Swords on the North side, which has the worst problems. Blanch's traffic is another nightmare, use to work out there.

 

[deedee80]

I totally agree with you Sainttoff. I'm originally from Templeogue, lived there for 25 years so know the place pretty well. Lucan has much more ammenities for young people and the bus service is FAR superior. Anyway Shrimp, surely you can't complain that nowhere compares to Lucan unless you have experience of having travelled in morning traffic from everywhere in Dublin. Tell me where you think is better, and also where you would advise young people to buy an affordable house with these better facilities that you were seeking? Did you bad mouth Lucan before you left here, if so why'd it take you 31 years to leave the "hellhole"?? I don't live in the "godforsaken hell hole" that is new lucan myself but if I did I would be highly offended by your comments.

I know of a developer who has tried recently to see to it that his new creation doesn't have a Lucan address, despite being in Lucan.

I would be interested in hearing more about this. Where is it?

There are, of course, parts of new Lucan where there are patches of grass for kids to kick a ball, I was being sweeping, but most of it is grim with pitiful facilities for what is generally a young population. That isn't an opinion, that is a fact.

New areas that now cater for the first time buyers and young people are mainly apartment blocks and weird looking houses all on top of each other with no front gardens and no green areas at all so I feel that the above statement has no substance at all - sorry.

 

[jonnyhotspur]

Let's stop being polite....the 'newer' parts of Lucan are Godforsaken hell-holes

I'd love to know if I am living in a Godforsaken hell-hole. Is it all the estates south of the N4 or do some specific ones make up the hell hole?

One other point. Apart from a swimming pool ( in the plans at the moment) I would be surprised if any other part of dublin had much more facilities for children.

One more thing. Crime! You're really having a laugh here. In my 40 years living around Dublin I have never lived in such a crime free area.
There was a spate of car robberies in Laraghcon (down at the village) a few years back but that's all I've heard off.
Someone did ring my door bell and run away last year.

 

[csirl]

Never lived in Lucan, but have 2 relatives who recently moved out to other parts of Dublin. Both say traffic and public transport in Lucan is worse than where they moved. Both lived in what I assume is "new" Lucan. One moved out mainly because estate was deteriorating due to proliferation of rented houses where landlords didnt care about the upkeep or what type of tenant they rented to. Other moved because of the schooling issue - has young family and classrooms are over crowded. Kids have moved from average class size of near 40 to average class size of c.25 where they live now.