The State’s attitudes toward artists belongs in the theatre of the absurd

It was vicious to watch. Two elderly tramps taunt and attack each other.

One, one legged in a wheel chair, the other blind. Maybe worse was the gawking of the crowd alternatively laughing and appalled, but none the less entertained.

This happened last Saturday night in a derelict site on the corner of Moss Street and City Quay. City Quay stretches along the south bank of the Liffey opposite the International Financial Services Centre. East and upriver towards O’Connell Bridge is Georges Quay surmounted by the squat towers of the Ulster bank complex.