Con Byrnes, is manager of the Killinarden House pub in Tallaght. "Ah, God, there's too many pubs out here altogether. Sure we're not making a shilling out here. They'd want to close down half the pubs," he says, jokingly I presume. As one of Tallaght's relatively few pubs, his establishment draws in large numbers of punters - up to 800 people on a good weekend night.

Depending on where you put the boundaries and on who is doing the counting, Tallaght's 62,000-plus population is served by either 11 pubs or 20 pubs. Limerick City, with 52,000 of a population boasts 200 pubs.

At least one publican in Tallaght, who didn't want to be named, believes the comparison between Tallaght and Limerick to be a false one. "In Limerick, you're talking about licences some of which don't open until seven o'clock in the evening. You're talking about people with licences who have other occupations too. It's a totally different scene. We have a staff of up to 40 people and there's very few pubs in Limerick have anything like that."

Back in the 1960s, before Tallaght exploded, there were eight pubs serving a very small population. Indeed, 100 years ago, it had 16 pubs. On the face of it, not a lot has happened in terms of expansion of pub numbers since 1899 or 1969, whichever date you pick.

But those pubs back in the 1960s were small compared to today's establishments, some of which claim to employ up to 70 people on a full-time and part-time basis.

A relatively small pub in Tallaght will employ at least seven people, says Mr Byrnes. And it is fairly normal for Tallaght pubs to be able to seat 600 to 700 people, he added.

Publicans are eager to point out that just looking at the number of pubs in Tallaght is not looking at the whole story.

Many sporting and leisure clubs have fairly big bars. One manager pointed out that in the Old Bawn area two pubs, Aherns and The Old Mill, have five clubs competing with them.

Of the pubs which were in Tallaght in the 1960s, the biggest, probably, was Molloys, better known as the Fox's Covert.

Today, the Fox's Covert is part of the Molloy Group whose spokesman, Pat Kelly, is doubtful if Tallaght would see many more pubs even if the licensing system was changed.

A licence costing £100,000 is only a small proportion of the £1 million cost of building a pub, he says.

The real block on expansion is the difficulty of getting planning permission.

"Everybody wants a pub but they don't want it beside them," he says. "It's quite difficult to get planning permission for a pub."

Tallaght is designed in neighbourhood pockets. Different areas, such as Springfield, Kilnamanagh, have their own identity and the intention of the planners was that each area would have its own centre. "There have been a number of applications for licences for those centres and in many cases it was the residents who objected," he says.

He argues that between pubs and clubs, "Tallaght is not as under licensed as one thinks".

If Tallaght was as poorly served, as is sometimes claimed, the price of a pint would be higher there than in the city, which has more competition but, he says, "the price of a pint in Tallaght is a hell of a lot cheaper than a lot of places inside in town".

The picture is uneven. Killinarden House is separated from the Jobstown House by a walk of about 20 minutes and there is relatively little competition in between from clubs. To get barred from both pubs would be a severe inconvenience.

Some observers believe that this area - west Tallaght - as it grows, will need more pubs, as will the spreading development of Tallaght out along the Blessington Road.

Some sources say there is a reluctance among publicans to move into west Tallaght because of the social problems in the deprived parts of the area.

But there is little doubt that customers in Tallaght would like to see more choice, according to Rosaleen Walsh, director of Tallaght Welfare Society.

There are relatively few places to which she can bring visitors for a quiet meal, she says, and Tallaght's 300 to 1,000 voluntary groups could certainly do with a wider choice of places in which to hold functions.

More pubs and hotels means more choice and variety, she says, and that is what people want.

The "classy" places - they include the Mill, Abberley Court, the Plaza, the Fox's Covert - do a roaring trade, she says, and this is evidence that more of them are needed.

One punter who drinks in the Killinarden House said the local, big pubs are okay for a drink after work or for a drink on an ordinary night but that "going out" means going into Tallaght village or to one of the newer places such as the Abberley Court or the Mill.

ROSALEEN Walsh believes Tallaght can gain in a big way from expanding the number of venues. First, there is the reluctance of people in the greater area to undergo the hassle of going into the city centre looking for parking or the "nightmare" of trying to find a taxi in Dublin late at night. Give these people the variety they want, she says, and they will stay in Tallaght.

Second, customers at hotels, such as the Green Isle and Bewleys, as well as people living in Clondalkin, would be happy to go to attractive venues in Tallaght, catering to a variety of tastes.

At the end of the day, though, Mr Kelly may be right. While it seems likely that Tallaght will get more pubs and hotels, problems with planning permission are likely to slow down that growth considerably.

It is certain that Tallaght will never reach the Limerick ratio of one pub for every 260 people, and maybe it doesn't want to.