The identity of the man found dead while sleeping rough on Dublin’s streets in the early hours of Tuesday morning remains unknown.
Gardaí and housing authorities are working to identify the man who had been sleeping rough in Dublin city centre. It is not known how long he may have been sleeping on the streets, his age or where he came from.
Pearse Street gardaí were alerted to the discovery of the man’s body on St Andrew’s Street early on Tuesday morning by a homeless organisation.
Garda headquarters also said they are still working to identify the man, “there is no update” and that their “investigations are ongoing”. The scene where the man’s body was discovered was preserved for technical examination.
His death is understood to be the first official recorded death of a rough sleeper this year, according to the homeless organisation A Lending Hand.
The man’s death comes as a status yellow temperature has been issued by Met Éireann with temperatures to plummet as low as -5 degrees at night time.
The Department of Housing and Garda both confirmed that they were notified of the man’s death.
[ Numbers sleeping rough in Dublin up 30% this winter ]
A Department of Housing spokesperson said the discovery of the man’s body was a “tragedy” and extended sympathies to the man’s family.
An additional 330 permanent beds have been added to homeless services by Dublin City Council. The single-adult beds were introduced into the system last October by the council in a bid to get rough sleepers off the streets.
Mary Hayes, director of Dublin Region Homeless Executive, said that the beds are “permanent with no end date in 2024″.
Outreach teams for Dublin homeless charities have seen a marked increase in people sleeping rough on Dublin’s streets.
In addition to these, there are 40 extreme-weather beds in non-governmental organisation services that are made available as needed, depending on the demand for homeless services on any given night. There is also no specific end date for these in 2024.
Keira Gill, the director of A Lending Hand, is appealing to any person who is sleeping rough on the Capital’s or streets around the country, of which there are hundreds she claims, not to sleep out outside overnight as the temperature are just too cold for them to bare no matter “how questionable they may think their emergency accommodation is.”
She explained: “We always try and get them to engage with the services available and always engage with the Simon Community for beds and encourage them to do that.”
A Lending Hand, which has been operating for 11 years, carries out an outreach service on the streets of Dublin and that they have never been as busy as they are right now.
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