Dublin clean and hip for international business

Despite its many urban problems, Dublin was this week adjudged Europe's best city in which to conduct business. A survey by Fortune, the influential US business magazine, ranked Dublin ahead of its more illustrious competitors like London, Rome and Milan. Dublin is now hip for business, says the magazine, and "thanks to a strong economy, James Joyce's dirty old town is clean (sic) and cool". The city's growing presence in international financial services, business tax perks, a young, well educated workforce and the lifestyle culture of Temple Bar were seen as particularly positive factors. All is not sweetness and light, however, the downside is unemployment, crime, high indirect taxation and urban traffic density.