Cork direct provision resident may have been dead four days before being found

A postmortem was conducted on the 54-year-old woman who came from South Africa.

Residents at a Direct Provision centre near Cork City are said to be deeply shocked and upset after a woman may have lain dead in her room there for over four days before she was discovered.

The Department of Equality confirmed that a female resident died at Ashbourne House in Glounthane, with her body discovered last Friday.

However, two people familiar with the centre said it was feared the 54-year-old South African woman, whose first name was Paulina, may have been dead in her room for a number of days, despite a suggestion that staff did look into the room on one or two occasions, concluding she was asleep.

Gardaí confirmed that officers attended the centre last Friday and that a post mortem was later carried out at Cork University Hospital.

A gofundme page was also set up in a bid to raise money so the woman could be repatriated but as of Monday evening, the page said it was no longer accepting donations.

One person familiar with Ashbourne House said people at the centre were upset at the circumstances of what happened and it was a shock.

The woman suggested the deceased resident may have been dead for most of a week before she was discovered last Friday.

"The family spoke to her on the Sunday, and they didn't hear anything back from her [afterwards]," she said.

"I heard that she was a good person."

It's understood the family rang again on Friday evening and at that stage staff checked again and found she had died.

It's believed the woman had not been staying in the centre that long and has a son based in Dublin. It's believed she may have been working in a hotel and that she had recently been informed she had been successful in her asylum application.

Another resident who contacted the Irish Examiner said the woman's family had not heard from her for a number of days and had then contacted the centre to check.

"Where is the dignity in this?" they said.

Both people in contact with the Irish Examiner regarding the woman's death claimed that at one point during the week someone did check the room, but concluded that the woman was sleeping.

Asked about the death, Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman said: "I'm aware a resident in the centre passed away in recent days. We haven't got details in terms of the conclusion of the investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death. 

"We don't comment on individual cases in terms of when someone in a direct provision centre passes away."

Mr O'Gorman said a report into the death is currently being carried out, as is the case when anyone dies in direct provision.

He told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that his department is working to completely phase out the use of direct provision to accommodate refugees.