Dublin's Temple Bar is overrun with 'gangs of kids and drug addicts' since the COVID pandemic.
That's according to Niall Sabongi, who owns the Klaw seafood café in the area.
He told Lunchtime Live the venue has seen its third attempted break-in in four months.
"They come and smash the big windows at the side of the building - we're basically a glass box sitting on the corner of Temple Bar," he said.
"The damage is huge".
'A huge expense'
He said the general manager of the café "had to stay in overnight to try and keep it secure while we got the windows replaced.
"We've a huge expense, it's €1,200 every time to replace the windows.
"It takes quite a lot of time to make €1,200 net in the business to be able to go and throw it back into it".
Mr Sabongi said he believes Temple Bar has changed since the pandemic.
"The real problem is that since COVID, Temple Bar has just become overrun with gangs of kids and drug addicts," he said.
"I'm a big fan of Temple Bar, I've been working in Temple Bar since the '90s.
"I've owned restaurants in the area since 2015 - it's always been a great, lively, multi-cultural area in Dublin".
'Staff are threatened daily'
Mr Sabongi said the area has a reputation, particularly with locals, as being too expensive and "full of hen party's and stags."
"It's become quite a scary place where my staff are being threatened daily - daily we have to ring the Guards about six or seven times.
"People are ringing our doors trying to escape gangs of kids trying to beat them up.
"Recently a man lost his eye cause he got kicked so many times in the head outside McDonald's in Temple Bar Square.
"Two weeks ago a friend of ours, he owns a record shop beside us, was coming out and... [he] was knocked to the ground, kicked in the head several times.
"He had to burst in our doors for us to close the shutters - it happens regularly that we have to close the doors".
'There aren't enough Guards'
Mr Sabongi said Gardaí are aware of these "organised criminal gangs around the area."
"It's kind of hangover from COVID when they came into the area, and then they never moved away from it when everything re-opened.
"The Guards themselves say they're understaffed, that there aren't enough Guards to do it.
"The beats have changed - the beat is no longer through Temple Bar.
"We have an amazing tourist area where every tourist gets off a plane [and] comes to it immediately.
"When they get there they're greeted with this," he added.
Listen back here:
