A young woman has died while sleeping rough after overnight temperatures plunged to a bitter -5C.
The homeless girl, who hasn't been named, died in her tent on the streets of Dublin, Ireland over the weekend.
The sad news was shared by the ‘A Lending Hand’ Facebook page, which is run by volunteers dedicated to keeping homeless people safe.
DublinLive reports that she passed away as the unforgiving winter sets in, with the city recording an overnight low of -5C while other parts of the country saw the mercury plunge as low as -10C.
The charity wrote: “A young girl has lost her life in a tent in Dublin. We have just been told it was yesterday that it happened, she took her chances in a tent and never made it through the night.
“Our fear for most of our pals on the streets. RIP, we hope you have the safest, warmest bed in heaven. We are so sorry you died the way you did. We light a candle in your memory."
Keira, a member volunteer of ‘A Lending Hand’ said: “Our mission this winter is to keep as many of our homeless pals safe and alive for one more night on the streets. If anyone would like to help, contact us on Facebook or Instagram and we will answer everyone's messages.”
“We help the homeless and anyone who may be struggling from families, old people, those in tents, and families in emergency accommodation in Dublin and anywhere we can.
“If you know of somebody who is in need or is looking to help, please reach out here.
“With the plummeting temperatures and continued bad weather, it's never been so important to do what we can to help those who are living in need. We always need sleeping bags, tents, white socks for men and women, men's tracksuit bottoms in medium and large, and ladies in small and medium."
People living on Ireland's streets have told us about the drastic measures they have to take to avoid death and injury as the so-called 'Troll of Trondheim' cold weather system grips the nation.
Dominic spoke to the Irish Mirror from the Ha'penny Bridge in central Dublin.
"At the moment, I sleep down at Connolly Station. There are maybe 20 of us who sleep down there every night.
"We sleep close together for body warmth. We usually have cardboard underneath us and a sleeping bag over us. We sleep tightly together for body warmth.
"During the day, we might go to Brother Luke's for breakfast or dinner, other than that we walk the streets all day. We have got nowhere to go. We are sleeping at Connolly Station.
"We were in a hostel for six months and we were given two days to leave our hostel so they can make room for Ukrainians because they had 7,600 coming over and needed to house them."
"The Government should have done it a different way to the way they did. I worked until Covid, who would have thought I would have ended up on the streets begging? Not me."
Dominic says that the scale of the homelessness problem in Dublin is underappreciated by those in power.
He continues on the politics of the situation as he sees it.
"The Government is doing nothing. I'm not a political person - and I never thought I'd say this - but if Sinn Fein got in then they would do something for the homeless. Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are doing nothing, they are all landlords and they're all making serious money.
"The homeless are forgotten, totally and utterly forgotten. There are lots and lots of people dying on the streets from the cold and it is never mentioned."
