IF ANYONE needed confirmation of the appeal of retail warehouses - tens of thousands of square feet devoted to DIY, home furnishings, electrical goods and carpets - a trip to the Royal Liver Retail Park on Dublin's Naas Road would be enough to assure even the most sceptical observer that what the people really, really want is a large building to wander around on a Sunday afternoon.

Royal Liver, which opened in 1991, was the first of the city's retail parks. Anchored by DIY giant Texas - which, with 45,000 square feet of space, takes up almost half of the total development - the park also has Atlantic, a furniture warehouse and a pet supply store among the other traders.

It now attracts a constant stream of cars, particularly at weekends, and is one of a number of such developments which indicate that Ireland is now resolutely following the lead of the UK and the US in warehouse retailing.

Royal Liver was probably ahead of its time, combining as it did a retail park on UK lines with the option of a funds investment, also more common in the UK market than in Ireland.

Jean Dargan of Spain Courtney Doyle believes the increase in retail warehousing is "probably because the planners are not permitting it in industrial estates any more, and related users want to be beside each other. We are catching up quite quickly on the UK".

Spain Courtney Doyle is the agent for the Tallaght Retail Park project. With over 150,000 square feet of space, the Tallaght park is one of the largest retail warehouse developments and its tenants already include DID, Smyths - at 25,000 square feet, the largest toy store in the country - Budget Decor, Tilebusters and American Golf.

The final phase of the project, 11,000 square feet along Tallaght High Street, is now available at £15.50 per square foot, approximately one-third of the cost of space in The Square nearby.

Spain Courtney Doyle is seeking a retailer in the furniture area for the available space and is unlikely to experience any great difficulty: as part of the Tallaght town centre, the park attracts double rent allowances for tenants and a remission of rates for 10 years.

"The other thing that has come to the fore for retail warehousing is clothes users," says Ms Dargan. "It's quite common in England to have discount clothes places in the retail warehousing."

Retail warehouses allow high-street names to sell their products at a discount by reducing overheads, while simultaneously increasing the profile of their brands. Spain Courtney Doyle has already received a number of inquiries for retailers in this area, says Ms Dargan.

At Stillorgan Plaza, for which Spain Courtney Doyle is also the agent, there are 25,000 square feet available at £12 per square foot, with terms agreed on 13,000 square feet for a "household-related" tenant.

Lisney has 6,000 square feet of space at £12 per square foot still remaining in a retail park at Lucan at the junction of the old Lucan Road and the new bypass according to Michael Finnegan of Lisney. Woodies is the anchor tenant in the park, DC Matthews also has a large unit and one further unit has been reserved.

Meanwhile, Green Property Company is at the appeal stage of planning permission for an eight-unit, 72,000-square-foot retail 4park adjacent to the Blanchardstown Town Centre. The development will consist of two units of 15,000 square feet units, two of 10,000 square feet and four 5,000-square-foot units and there has been "keen interest", according to Conor Byrne of the Green Property Company. Tenants are likely to come from the furniture/household sectors.

"There is a lot of interest," says Mr Byrne. "We have competing interest in each of the units, which is an indication of demand. We could probably build the same again and fill it."

Blanchardstown's attraction has been increased by the Western Parkway and the Northern Cross Motorway. The park's proximity to the shopping complex is a major selling point, he says.

A retail park beside a shopping centre is more sought after than a retail park in isolation. We are also going to build them well." The units will have extensive shop frontage: "It's not just a big shed. The brick matches the brick of the centre and the quality will be the same as the centre."

With demand high, particularly for larger units, Mr Byrne anticipates that Green will be examining similar options elsewhere.

Conor Kennedy of Jones Lang Wootton, joint agents for the park, says "the company is engaged in active discussions" for 65,000 square feet of the development with other prospective tenants "lining up" for the remaining space.

"Retail warehousing is the way that retail development is going to go, says Mr Kennedy. "There are a lot of companies looking for sites suitable for retail warehouse accommodation. There are a couple of UK developers who are, for want of a better term, sniffing around' for sites here."

Planning restrictions appear to be tighter in the UK than in Ireland, which is likely to lead to greater interest from UK investors. An Bord Pleanala has no established policy on retail park appeals, so the complexes are essentially a matter for local authorities. The increasing number of such parks in the Dublin area is an indication of the willingness of the planners to allow such developments.

According to Mark Walsh, senior administrative officer with Fingal County Council's planning section, retail warehousing - warehousing for domestic, leisure and DIY purposes - is permitted in principle in C-zoned land (to protect, provide for or improve town district centre facilities); D-zoned land (to provide for major town centre activities, such as the Blanchardstown Retail Park); and E-zoned land (industrial and related uses). This has been the position since 1993 in the county council's area and each application is considered on its own merits thereafter.

The trend towards warehousing is not limited to the Dublin area. In Galway, which already has a number of retail parks, agent Terry Cunningham is in the planning stage of a further retail development, details of which are expected to be announced in the next four to six months.

The situation in Cork is markedly different. According to Roger Flack of Hamilton Osborne King in Cork, there are no retail parks in the city or suburbs but that situation will certainly change if developers and their clients are given the option of developing such parks.

Clients of HOK have land which could be used for such a purpose while Colliers Jackson Stops is also understood to be considering a retail park in Cork for some of its major clients.

One of the obstacles to such developments appears to be the reluctance of planners to give the green light to parks which might take business away from the city centre, which was also a matter of concern to Dublin's planners. As Dublin attempts to deal with its growing traffic problem, the prospect of the deliveries of bulky goods such as furniture, carpets and electrical items being carried out away from the city centre is likely to seem more attractive.

"The reality of it is that the people who operate in retail parks find that the rents and the size of the area they require don't add up in the city centre," says Mr Flack.