A row has broken out over complaints that Dublin's northside has been given inferior planter boxes compared to those on the southside.

Dublin City Council recently installed planter boxes at the top of both Grafton St on the southside and Henry St on the northside at a cost of €50,000.

Row over 'inferior' planter boxes on Dublin's northside | https://t.co/pJ8P7YxeVz pic.twitter.com/TkXSljBI3P — RTÉ News (@rtenews) January 24, 2018

However, North City Independent Councillor Nial Ring said that, while the Grafton St planters have "beautiful veneer wood", the Henry St ones are rusty metal that "look like they were thrown together by a first year metalwork" student.

"To me this just epitomises an attitude in the city council - a northside/southside divide," he said.

The planters on Henry Street

The Grafton Street equivalent

The city council denied that there was any discrimination.

It said: "We did not have enough planters for both locations from stock and in the timeframe additional ones similar to Grafton St were not available."

it said there were no significant cost difference between the two types of boxes.

"The planters were put in place to provide improved protection to two pedestrian zones which have the highest footfall."