The National Roads Authority (NRA) and the Green Party are among critics of the plan, which objectors say will lead to traffic chaos on the already overcrowded motorway. In what was regarded as a controversial move, the government previously changed the retail planning guidelines specifically to accommodate the proposed IKEA project.

"I wouldn't want to second-guess the board's decision, but I do think the future of the store is now in serious doubt, " says Green transport spokesman, Eamonn Ryan. "As much as anything, this is now an opportunity to raise issues and concerns in a public forum. Let's put the evidence out there and see what the case is. "I would welcome IKEA coming to Ireland.

The problem is that the M50 is already a transport disaster. At the An Bord PleanA la oral hearing into the widening of the M50 it was abundantly clear we couldn't afford any additional traffic onto it.

"Unfortunately, an Ikea store, and a slip road off the motorway, is going to lead to a significant increase in the volume of traffic. That's the simple point that we've been making."

The oral hearing is expected to take place next month and will address nine objections that have been lodged against the development. A final decision is expected by the summer.

Earlier comments by John O'Connor, chairman of An Bord PleanA la, suggest the board may not be favourably disposed to the project. Speaking at the launch of the board's last annual report, he accused local authorities of undermining the new national roads network.

They were doing this, he said, by giving the green light to massive developments at bypassing that the injured party has to move out of his or her property for the duration of any repair works which need to be carried out).

"A lot of people are not aware of the additional benefits within their policies, " said Murphy. "They claim for the obvious items, but there could be many others that they are not aware of."

Because the reality is that, if a person does not claim for something, there is no reason for the insurance policy to pay for it.

es and interchanges along motorways and dual-carriageways. Developers would encounter "high hurdles" to get approval by the board for "commercial developments at these intersections".

IKEA says it will take nine months to build the store and that construction will only begin when all planning issues have been resolved.

Fingal county council has ordered that the 30,000sq m unit should not open until the upgrade of the Ballymun interchange of the M50 is completed. Once built, the store will not be allowed to open before 10am from Monday to Friday and it must stay open until 11 pm. It can open from 8am until midnight on Saturdays.

The NRA is also objecting to the Ikea development on the basis of the projected increase in traffic on the surrounding network. In England and Wales, Ikea is now building smaller town-centre stores due to the traffic problems they have had at their out-of-town locations.

Ciaran Murray, managing director of Ballymun Regeneration Ltd - a company set up by Dublin city council to promote the physical, economic and social regeneration of that area of the city - is an enthusiastic supporter of the proposed development.

"We are absolutely in favour of this development. We wouldn't be supporting the project if we weren't confident the traffic can be managed in the context of the upgrading of the M50 and other local road improvements that are in train.

"Remember, we are talking here about five to six hundred full- and part-time jobs. We've set ourselves a target of securing 50% of those jobs for Ballymun.

"The traffic generated by Ikea stores is spread pretty evenly over the day and will not significantly add to rush-hour traffic.

"It's worth remembering that the lands in question were originally zoned for high-density office development. The cumulative impact of office development tends to create peaks between 7am and 9am. So there was potential there for a development with a far higher impact on traffic levels."