Steer Clear of the Northside of Dublin

Whenever anyone finds out where we are residing in Dublin this summer, we get the same reaction..."Be careful the northside is a bit dodgy"....until last nite i hadnt realized that the roughness involved our area as well.....
The nite started off grand...we went to the pub Eamon Dorans, which is near the Temple Bar area...it was definitly a bit of craic. ..It was when we returned to our apartment complex that things got a bit shady. Recently like maybe 2 weeks ago they opened a 24-hour Spar just below our complex....like right under my window in fact. The Spar has been attracting many of the people who reside in Ballymun which is the ghetto of Dublin, its about a 10 minute walk from where we live in Glasnevin. Anyways so last nite there was a bit of sparring outside the spar. And by sparring i mean stabbings, with a pen none the less. I feel it is a very good thing that no one really has guns here to speak of that could be disasterous. It was unbelievable, i heard yelling out my window around 4:30am and when i looked outside i saw a group of 'knackers'(as far as i can tell a knacker is a person who wears track suits all the time and slicks their hair back, comparable to the term white trash), running away. When i went to join the rest of the group in the living room, they were watching a man bleeding rather profusely from several little wounds, on his arms, his side,,,adn there was one on his head. We went down to help him out, bring him water and such and find the security for some first aid. Turns out the 'knackers' asked him for a ciggerette and when he said he didnt have one, they attacked him. His friends has several minor injuries as well. The garda showed up promptly bc their station is only down the block. Turns out im a witness bc i saw them run away...i had to make statements and everything. My statement was i saw 10-15 young boys in royal blue track suits, running right down shanowen avenue. Hahaha....very helpful, im sure. It was a bit crazy.....
We emailed the people who placed us in our location right away....they have already called the people who run our complex and they decieded to close the Spar from 12-7 and get more people for security. Thank God......
Now its time to go watch the world cup USA vs. Italy....GO USA!!!
Peace....