Man who slept outside Burton office to face fitness-to-plead hearing

A man, who was one of the homeless people prevented from sleeping outside a building used by Tánaiste Joan Burton’s department, is to face a fitness-to-plead hearing, a court has ordered.

Patrick O’Sullivan, aged 41, who spent more 20 years as a long-stay patient with severe mental illness before being released from care, had been sleeping rough outside Gandon House on Amien St, in Dublin’s city centre, which is used by the Department of Social Protection.

Last month, metal bars, which have been compared to anti-homeless spikes seen in London, were installed along the outer ledges of the building. The privately owned building has been leased by the Office of Public Works on behalf of the State.