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29th Nov 2017

Gardaí investigate death of a homeless man who had been sleeping rough in Dublin

He is the second homeless person to have died in Dublin this week.

Conor Heneghan

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The man was pronounced dead on Monday morning.

Gardaí are investigating the death of a homeless man who had been sleeping rough at the Four Courts in Dublin.

The man, a Lithuanian national in his late 30s, was discovered on Sunday evening and taken to the Mater Hospital by ambulance. He was pronounced dead on Monday morning.

In a statement, An Garda Síochána said: “Gardaí are investigating the death of a man in his late 30s on 26th November. The man was taken by ambulance from Chancery Street, Dublin 7 at 6pm on the 26th and pronounced dead at The Mater Hospital the following morning.”

The Lithuanian man is the second homeless person to have died in Dublin this week.

On Wednesday morning, homeless charity Peter McVerry Trust released a statement expressing their sadness at the news of the deaths this week.

“Peter McVerry Trust is deeply saddened by the death of two men sleeping rough in Dublin in the past couple of days,” the statement read.

“Unfortunately, there have been an unprecedented number of deaths involving people sleeping rough since late August. The latest two deaths in Dublin bring to seven the number of people sleeping rough that have died in the past 12 weeks.

“Peter McVerry Trust is calling on the Government to commit to housing every person currently sleeping rough in Dublin by the end of 2018.

“At present we have just over 180 people sleeping rough in Dublin, and while that is the highest number on record, surely the Government can commit to ring-fencing 180 social housing units for our most vulnerable citizens.”

Speaking on Morning Ireland on Wednesday, 29 November, Peter McVerry Trust CEO Pat Doyle spoke about the tragedy of people dying on the streets and the dangers of sleeping rough during the winter.

“Our heart goes out to them. It’s freezing out there, it’s not safe to be a rough sleeper,” he said.

Mr Doyle also advocated the Housing First model as the only way to tackle homelessness in Ireland, pointing out that there can be issues in getting those who are sleeping rough to accept a bed in emergency accommodation.

“That is why we push the Housing First model as people will sooner walk into an apartment than a hostel,” he said.

Doyle recently revealed that there would be 200 beds made available to homeless people in Dublin before Christmas after it emerged that there were 184 people sleeping rough in Dublin on the night of November 7, the highest figure ever recorded in the capital.

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