By Diarmaid Fleming BBC Northern Ireland's Dublin reporter

The narrow street and adjoining laneways has become world-famous as a destination for visitors keen to grab a quick sample of the "craic" and some Irish culture.

The report recommends publicans should stagger closing times

Indeed, take a trip down Temple Bar at the weekend, and it is hard to believe you are in Ireland.

The street's many clubs and bars reverberate to the sound of English, Scottish, Welsh and accents from around the world.

Commercially, it has been a huge success, with Temple Bar now an international melting pot and meeting point.

It is a far cry from the late 1980s when the area was run-down, with properties due to be demolished to make way for a major bus depot.

But in 1991, the Irish Government decided to regenerate the area and provide a "cultural quarter" for Dublin instead.

The regeneration has been a huge success, with businesses and over 2,500 people now living in the once near-deserted area.

Formerly derelict properties are now among the city's most sought-after apartments.

But not everyone is happy. The cultural dream has not materialised in the way that was imagined.

The problem is not that people come to drink, but it is because some drink excessively, behave badly and then put other people off from coming to the area Dermot McLaughlin Temple Bar Properties

Many people living in Dublin never go near the area which some say is like 'Ibiza with overcoats on'.

"My friends and I never go there, We call it the Vomitorium and you will be hard pressed to find any culture there, other than drinking and nightclubbing," says Niall Roche from Kerry.

Dublin journalist Frank McDonald was one of the first residents to move into the new Temple Bar.

"It's turned out in a way that nobody expected it would. It was meant to be Dublin's cultural quarter, but instead turned into a drinking destination.

Instead of the cultural attractions gaining the critical mass, it was the licensing trade which cashed in on the tax incentives to build larger pubs and turned it into a kind of drinking destination.

"It has been marketed as such, and has become a huge weekend draw, especially for tourists," he says.

'Create an ambience'

The company charged with leading the regeneration, Temple Bar Properties, has commissioned a major report.

Anti-social behaviour "fuelled by excessive consumption of alcohol" is the single biggest problem in Temple Bar, the report says.

Frank McDonald was one of the first residents to move in

Temple Bar Properties chief executive, Dermot McLaughlin - himself one of Ireland's leading traditional fiddlers - says the cultural deficit must be addressed.

"The big perception problem is to do with drink. The problem is not that people come to drink, but it is because some drink excessively, behave badly and then put other people off from coming to the area.

"They create an ambience which isn't the attractive peaceful accommodating type that was originally intended," he says.

But he adds that the problem is not just one affecting Temple Bar. "These are issues of public order, of respect, care for the environment and care for oneself that aren't peculiar to Dublin or Temple Bar.

"They're pervasive across all of Ireland and are generally to do with alcohol."

The report recommends that publicans should stagger pub closing times to avoid a mass exodus from pubs onto the street when pubs close together.

Tighter licensing controls to curb illegal bar extensions and late drinking should enforced by the authorities.

Alco-pops and drunk customers should be banned, says the study.

The Irish police, the Garda, are criticised in the report for failing to deal with anti-social behaviour in the areas, and are recommended to take a tougher line.

The report also outlines future plans for the area. One of these is a Dublin version of the London Eye, a hot-air balloon anchored in the River Liffey which would take people skyward for a birds-eye view of the city.

If Dublin's cultural quarter doesn't clean up its act at night, then that at least might offer another route away from the anti-social behaviour below.