gravitygirl said:
thanks a mill for the feedback guys - i think i'll have to have a good think before a part with the cash! much appreciated
You should do this anyway but you should also check the area out for yourself by visiting it a few times at different times of the day/night. Some of the comments above don't tally with my experience of living in the area for the past 10+ years (and regularly staying with my sister who lived there for the 5 years before that) - or
Dublin generally (e.g. never, ever, experienced any hassle when regularly walking to, around and from town at all hours of the day or night in the last 25 years or so). It's not perfect (where is?) but it's certainly not a no go area or anything like that as might be inferred from some of the comments above. The prostitution problems affecting the
Benburb Street and surrounding areas (similar to problems experienced in other areas of central
Dublin - e.g. along parts of the
Grand Canal on the southside,
Fitzwilliam Square etc.) for many years have been ameliorated somewhat in recent years due to community activity on the issue. In any case that was always more of an annoyance than any sort of threat. As with many areas there can be issues with kids hanging around (laneways, shops etc.) and giving lip but if you can't deal with that then you might be pretty restricted in terms of where you can buy at all. I've experienced the same in middle class estates!
O'Devaney Gardens is due to be redeveloped and there's a huge investment ongoing into the
National Museum in
Collins' Barracks (
Arbour Hill/Benburb Street) which, along with the
Luas and
Smithfield developments, has regenerated those areas significantly. For what it's worth we're happy to stay put even after the arrival of our baby five months ago. We have great neighbours and are friendly with many of the residents in the surrounding areas which gives the place a nice neighbourhood feel and where we live is both dead central and a bit off the beaten track while being handy for the other places in
Dublin and elsewhere that we tend to visit.