Man critical after stabbing in Dublin house

A man in his 30s was in a critical condition in hospital last night after being stabbed several times in a west Dublin house early yesterday morning.

Gardaí said the man, who is in his 30s and from Crumlin, was drinking with friends in a house in the Whitebrook Park estate in west Tallaght when an argument broke out at about 2.20am.

The man was stabbed three times, twice in the back and once in the shoulder, and collapsed. His attackers then fled through the back door of the house and ran from the estate.

The man, who is known to gardaí, is understood not to have been living in the house, but was a friend of the family who lived there.

Neighbours said yesterday that the family, which includes several young children, had moved to the estate about two or three years ago. A woman living opposite the house said the family seemed quiet and that there had been no trouble in the house before the incident. "I heard screams but I didn't know what had happened until the guards came around talking to people."

Gardaí were continuing house-to-house inquiries yesterday evening.