A boy under the age of 17 was among 20 homeless people who died in Dublin in the first four months of this year.
Data released by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive to Aontu leader Peadar Toibin through a Freedom of Information request also shows four people between the ages of 20 and 29 passed away. It remains unclear whether those who died were sleeping rough, or lived in a hostel or emergency accommodation.
The figures only relate to the “deaths of homeless service users reported to the Dublin Region Homeless Executive”. Eighteen of those who passed away were male and two were female.
Seven died in January, five passed away in February, two lost their lives in March, and six died in April. Deputy Toibin said: “These are harrowing and distressing statistics which have been provided to me by Dublin City Council.
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“Behind each one of these statistics is an individual and their family and friends. The ages at death are deeply concerning. Of the 20 people who died while homeless in Dublin so far this year, one of them was under the age of 17, four were aged between 20 and 29 years, and a further 10 were aged between 30 and 49 years. It’s chilling that over two-thirds of these deaths were of people younger than me.”
Toibin, 48, said the findings, published by the Department of Health last week, produced by the Health Research Board make for “sad reading”. He added: “Substance abuse and mental ill health were big factors here, but the report cites how the deaths were primarily the result of the social determinants of health, including inadequate accommodation, poverty, lack of employment, child and adult trauma and imprisonment’.
“We know the causes of the deaths and what we need is urgent implementation of solutions. We need the Departments of Health, Justice, Children, and Education to work together on this. From DEIS schools to psychologists, to social workers and prison officers. It is a scandal that people are dying homeless in Ireland in 2023 at this rate.”
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