Dublin has lost its 'spirit' not because of the 'man in the shell suit, but the man in the black suit', comedian Katherine Lynch has claimed.
She was speaking as a local resident of the city centre, amid a renewed debate about security in the capital.
Katherine told The Hard Shoulder she believes this is down to high rents and greed.
"It's a division again in the city," she said.
"There's no bohemian lifestyle in the city; there's no kind of example or warning.
"We have no students, we have no bohemians, we have no guitar-playing guys living in the city.
"We've no socialism anymore, it's just greed and us all standing over these poor people who are homeless or on drugs.
"It's not their fault; it's not the man in the shell suit's fault, it's the man in the black suit's fault - in the Government - that have created a city centre that has no spirit anymore".
'We don't have that anymore'
Katherine said she is not angry, but heartbroken.
"I'm broken hearted about Dublin, the beautiful bohemian city that we used to have, and why don't we have it anymore?
"The answer is because we're charging too much rent to lovely young students and lovely young people who want to be artists".
Katherine said: "There's a certain spirit missing now from Dublin, and it's an example or warning.
"We had a young student on the street who'd see a fella on drugs and say, 'I don't want to be like that'.
"Or you'd see a fella who was on drugs on the street and they'd see a young student and say, 'I wouldn't mind being like that'.
"We don't have that anymore... it is learning from each other, so we don't have that anymore.
"It's just a shame that we've generations and generations of drugtakers now and it's getting worse.
"The drugs are getting stronger and society's getting meaner - it is quite heartbreaking".
'Nothing in the middle'
Katherine said the city is now like a 'train station'.
"It all comes back to lowering the rents in town and having a society that allows a student to live in its own capital city," she said.
"[It] allows an artist to come to the city with its metaphorical handkerchief on a stick and make a life for themselves.
"Otherwise we're just living in - I don't know - it's like a train station at this stage.
"Everything is transient: we've tourists who are ripped off and we have homeless people who are treated like absolute crap.
"We've nothing in the middle really," she added.
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