On a damp Sunday afternoon, it is not hard to see the signs of deprivation which mark Tallaght West out.
This immediately becomes evident on the journey: while Luas makes it to Tallaght, it does not quite stretch to Tallaght West and its 21,000 citizens.
The boarded-up shops and the odd burnt-out car pay their own testimony to the area's problems.
While things are getting better, say residents, huge expanses of green areas, interspersed with the odd goalpost, if even that, suggest much remains to be done.
No games pitches, tennis courts or clubhouses welcome children to play there.
Instead, just acres and acres of grass framed by picturesque mountains and never-ending housing estates.
Mr Billy O'Connell helps to run Croí Ró Naofa GAA in Killinarden, which was established four years ago.
Operating out of a 40ft truck container in Killinarden Park, he says it can be difficult to provide a safe place for the children under his care to play.
"We have one adult team and about 40 juvenile teams, which is not surprising in such a young area," he says. "There are three soccer pitches and two GAA pitches. But the rest of the park, about 60 per cent, is just green grass. There is not a whole load going on, it's not being utilised at all."
There are bollards around the green areas, the latest addition to the landscape.
Constructed to deter "joyriders" from dumping their cars, they have helped to cut down on the number of cars you hear at night, says June Kelly, who has lived in Jobstown for 10 years.
As a mother of three children aged between four and 12, she says she loves living in her community, but fears for her children's safety from "bullies" in the area. These are concerns which others echo.
But there are signs of progress. The establishment of An Cosán, a local community and education centre, is one.
Another, perhaps more subtle one, is the fact that locals have planted flowers outside houses near Cloonmore Green. Funded by the council, the flowers brighten up the area.
The underlying hope is that, with sufficient time and support, locals will one day be able to step back and watch such flowers, like their children, grow.