South Dublin County Council planners have granted planning permission for a major expansion to the Liffey Valley Centre .
The development will consist of a mixed leisure, entertainment, commercial and retail extension to the existing Liffey Valley Centre in the form of three integrated structures organised around a large public plaza.
A local Garda office and affordable retail units are also provided in the main retail area.
A 2,500 seat Olympic-sized indoor ice arena capable of holding international ice skating competitions, ice hockey matches and ice entertainment performances.
Up to 450 full-time and part-time jobs will be created upon completion as well as 225 construction jobs during the development phase, bringing the total number of people employed in the centre to over 2,500.
Hines Ireland in February sought permission for the expansion of the centre, which opened in 1998 on the site originally known as Quarryvale, located at the junction of the M50 motorway and N4 road.
The controversial rezoning of the Quarryvale site for the shopping centre, which was developed instead of a new town centre in Clondalkin, became the subject of the Mahon planning tribunal.
South Dublin County Council raised serious concerns earlier this year about the increased traffic that would be generated by a 51,545sq m extension to the shopping centre, the construction of a 1,800-space multi-storey car park, as well as the ice rink, which will have the capacity to host events for 2,500 people.
The potential effects of the development on the already heavily congested N4 and M50 have also been raised by the National Roads Authority (NRA) and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).