Homeless die as shelters idle for lack of funding

ALARM was expressed last night at the number of homeless people dying in Dublin while underfunded shelters are being left idle.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore demanded action from ministers to ensure more HSE money was made available, after it emerged that seven people relying on hostels or sleeping on the streets died in the capital over Easter.

The extent of the problem was exposed by RTÉ’s Prime Time, which revealed an effective HSE cut to homelessness services for 2008 meant five large homeless facilities in Dublin were either lying idle or being underutilised due to a lack of funding.