Special report: Death and despair on Ireland s streets
It s been just over a year since a general election that was run on the twin issues of housing and homelessness. In that year, an unprecedented global pandemic has utterly changed Irish life. With people confined to their houses, those without homes are dying in unprecedented numbers. More people known to homeless services are dying and everyone wants to know why, and how to stop it, writes Noel Baker Volunteer Ryan sorting the food at Penny Dinners on Little Hanover Street, Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan
Mon, 15 Feb, 2021 - 21:25 It s been just over a year since a general election that was run on the twin issues of housing and homelessness. In that year, an unprecedented global pandemic has utterly changed Irish life. With people confined to their houses, those without homes are dying in unprecedented numbers. More people known to homeless services are dying and everyone wants to know why, and how to stop it,
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Nine crews from Dublin City Council spread 150 tonnes of salt across 300 kilometres of the road network in the early hours of this morning.
Staff were out between 2.30am and 6.30am as part of the council s Winter Maintenance Plan in place ahead of the expected bad weather.
Management say the council s salt barns are full to capacity and gritting lorries, snowploughs and operational staff from the Roads Division are on standby.
Forecasts
Dublin City Council has been closely monitoring weather forecasts over the past few days and has a Winter Maintenance Plan in place for the bad weather expected over the next 24 to 48 hours.
Extra beds available for homeless during cold snap
Updated / Tuesday, 9 Feb 2021
20:32
Dublin Correspondent
Forty-five contingency beds for the homeless have been activated in Dublin as part of the response to current cold snap.
The Extreme Weather Initiative Protocol was initiated by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) at the weekend and allows for up to 100 extra beds spaces - some of them camp beds - to be used for rough sleepers.
This is on top of the 340 extra beds - 300 permanent and 40 temporary - announced as part of the Cold Weather strategy last November.
A spokesperson for the DRHE said that all beds are now given on a rolling 24-hour basis, which means
Despite this, the report shows that there s been a decrease of 446 families in emergency accommodation since the start of last year.
Social Democrats Housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan said: “It is tragic that so many people who are homeless died in 2020. It s incredibly worrying that we have seen a 61% increase in homeless deaths in a year.
“We cannot tolerate this. We know what needs to be done to end homelessness. We have to provide people with homes and supports. The Minister must urgently take action to address this.
“The median age of death of someone who is homeless in Dublin is 42 – that is decades shorter than the rest of the population. We cannot allow this to continue.