When Ireland redeveloped a swathe of central Dublin in the 1990s, the idea was to create a version of Paris's Left Bank, a cultural quarter of cobbled lanes, art and urban renewal. Planners and architects transformed the run-down Temple Bar site by the River Liffey into an ambitious experiment that drew throngs of visitors and won awards. Three decades later, there are some withering verdicts on what happened next. It seems that Temple Bar is becoming a violent post-apocalyptic place, a judge said last year after sentencing a man who bludgeoned a victim with a can of cider. It's shocking to see it, that people can't be safe down there.
An English tourist was treated in hospital after a knife attack in Temple Bar late on Saturday night, close to where another English tourist was left in a critical condition after an unrelated attack a month ago.