Two bank holiday deaths bring to 50 number of homeless to die this year
Two homeless people died in Dublin over the bank holiday weekend. Picture: iStock
Two homeless people died in Dublin over the bank holiday weekend.
A man, in his 40s was found in the early hours of Friday morning last outside the CHQ, a popular industrial retail complex among young professionals, by security personnel.
Gardai were notified of the man’s death at around 5.30am and were quickly on the scene.
The dead man was known to homeless services. His remains were taken to the city morgue before homeless services were able to provide assistance.
The body of the second person, a young homeless woman, aged 31 was discovered inside a tent which was located at Lynch’s Lane, Ronanstown in Clondalkin in the early hours of last Saturday.
A Garda spokesperson said that following a post mortem being carried out at the city morgue, it is believed that, “this lady died between Wednesday of last week and Saturday last.
“A post mortem has been carried out and a file is being prepared for the Coroners Court,” the spokesperson added.
It is understood that initial reports following the discovery of the woman’s body suggested her death may have been suspicious but the post mortem findings ruled those out.
The two deaths bring to more than 50 the number of homeless people who have died this year so far compared to a total of 37 according to Independent councillor Anthony Flynn and CEO/ Co- Founder of Inner City Helping Homeless.
“Being honest we are not seeing the true extent of the homeless levels around Dublin and the rest of the country.
As of Monday night there were 133 homeless in Dublin and we are not even seeing the full extent of what is happening,” explained Cllr Flynn.
He revealed that homeless people don’t feel safe in many privately funded hostels and shelters, “as many are the scrapping of the bottle of the barrel with too many people sharing sleeping arrangements.
Cllr Flynn added: “Despite advice from the Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan for homeless people to seek shelter due to fears over their health and Covid-19 they feel safer on the streets because of poor conditions being provided.
“They don’t want to raise their chances of contracting the virus living in cramped and overcrowded conditions and they genuinely feel more secure going back out on the streets.”
The homeless housing advocate warned that there could be even more deaths due to temperatures deteriorating.
“It seems that the homeless are once again being brushed under the carpet and the remains of those who die on the streets are taken away before anyone can see them or ask questions.
“I fear there will be more deaths as the weather is getting colder and emergency accommodation is just not enough.”
