Checked this out over the weekend:
Royal Canal Park, definitely very close to Cabra and West Finglas, but there is still a clear delineation between the area's. Apartments are fine, quite large, but I would consiider them too cheap either.
Rathborne/Earlswood, probably 1/2 mile further away than Royal Canal, again reasonably sized apartments but more expensive again. The 3 bedroom townhouse at Earlswood impressed me and seemed a lot better value than any of the apartments I saw. Definitely very close to the train station (5 min walk).
The Dunsink road blockade is more than 2 miles away from any of this (presuming that the incidents happened up past Elm Green colf club?).
I also checked DAFT, and the rents are in the 1100 mark for the 2 bedrooms, but there do seem to be a few of them on there. Maybe a few too many investors for my liking (i'm actually looking at places for my brother, who's coming back in 6 months time). One other thing I noticed is that the second hand units in the various developments while priced up more or less in line with the new phases do not seem to be selling all that well. (I know there are stamp duty considerations etc, however, maybe it's more that people want to buy a new apartment).
As regards the train, will it be government policy to increase the frequency of such commuter trains, we all know it probably should be (perhaps the various developers will club together to buy some new trains, afterall every development along the track to Maynooth is sold at a premium to other local developments as they are "right on the commuter line to Pearse St".
One other point, it seems to me that the Phoenix Park development is grossly ovedrpriced in comparison to these, with Rathborne being the most comparable and within 3/4 of a mile of Phoenix Park dvlpmnt (and closer to the train station). Is this purely a marketing issue. ie "live in the park, watch the deer roam as you enjoy your glass of wine, with friends.....".
I would agree with Observer that when the development is completed it could turn out very well, it's not too far from town and does have a number of commuting options.