Fair city no more: Attacks on visitors dent Dublin's tourism image

The recent death of a Canadian tourist in Dublin has again raised concerns over whether the Irish capital remains a safe and welcoming starting point for a holiday on the island.

Neno Dolmaijan, a 41-year-old from Montreal, died in a Dublin hospital in early July after being seriously injured in the centre of the city on June 23.

Ireland’s Taoiseach (prime minister) Simon Harris described the assault as "horrific," while Mary Lou McDonald, the leader of Sinn Féin, the biggest political party on the opposition benches, said it "highlights the hard reality that our city centre is not safe."

The death followed several physical assaults of visitors to Dublin, sometimes referred to locally as the "fair city," in reference to a popular ballad.

Last month, a visiting British teenager’s face was slashed in Smithfield, a popular pub and dining area of the city located near the main train station and the Guinness brewery.

A year ago, the US embassy in Dublin advised visitors to "keep a low profile" in rougher parts of Dublin after a near-fatal assault on a tourist from the US.

That attack followed the beating of a visiting Ukrainian musician and the April 2023 assault on two elderly US citizens in a Dublin hotel - where they were threatened with rape and murder, according to recent court testimony.

Late last year Dublin made international headlines for riots motivated by anti-migrant hostility that followed the stabbings of three children and a childcare worker by a man of foreign descent who had been living in Dublin for 20 years.

More unfavourable international coverage followed in May this year, when city authorities felt obliged to temporarily disable a "Portal" landmark visually linking the city with New York after people in Dublin made lewd gestures and held up phones showing 9/11 footage to a camera used for broadcasting live across the Atlantic.

Dublin’s visitor-friendly image has further been dented by inflation hitting sectors popular among and dependent upon visitors, with the price of Guinness raised three times since last year and some pubs in central Dublin charging €10 for a pint of beer by early 2024.

With almost 32 million passengers recorded in 2023, Dublin Airport is the main gateway for visitors to Ireland, meaning a dent to the city's image could affect tourism elsewhere on the island.

In May, Fáilte Ireland, the country’s tourism development authority, sought to explain "a challenging year to date" for the industry, citing factors including "high prices being charged in a number of sectors" and a "lack of tourist accommodation."