Irish Examiner view: Using Covid as a catalyst to tackle homelessness crisis

There are 8,702 adults and children living in emergency accommodation such as hotels or family hubs

A rough sleeper in the doorway of the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin City Centre earlier this month. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/ RollingNews.ie

As the nation remains convulsed with the fallout from Covid-19, it is important that we retain a perspective with regard to what is and what is not important. The current restrictions go beyond inconvenience but they pale by comparison to tragedies that are happening around us that are influenced by, though not directly caused by, the coronavirus. Among them are the growing levels of homeless people who are literally dying on the streets.

Two homeless people died in Dublin over the bank holiday weekend. A man in his 40s was found by security staff in the early hours of Friday morning outside the CHQ, an industrial retail complex. The body of the second person, a homeless woman aged 31, was discovered inside a tent which had been pitched at Lynch’s Lane, Ronanstown, in Clondalkin. What is particularly chilling is that gardaí estimate that she may have been dead for more than a week.