Homeless services in Dublin record 357 deaths in the past five years

A total of 357 people who had come in contact with homeless services in Dublin have died over the past five years, according to statistics released under the Freedom of Information Act.

The data, released to Aontú by Dublin City Council, shows the number of deaths recorded by homeless services in the city since 2018, with the highest number of deaths in the five-year period recorded in 2021.

There were 47 deaths recorded across homeless services in Dublin in 2018 and 49 in 2019. The number of deaths increased to 76 in 2020, and increased again to 115 in 2021.

So far in 2022, 70 deaths have been recorded across Dublin’s homeless services.

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The figures include those who died in both long-term and short-term accommodation and in outreach services as well as those who were not service users but had been identified as homeless.

A Government-commissioned report by Dr Austin O’Carroll, a north inner city GP specialising in healthcare to marginalised groups, found that people who were homeless more than 18 months had a mortality rate eight times that of people who had been homeless less than six months.

In a statement to the Dáil earlier this month, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien said the Dublin Region Homeless Executive was working closely with the HSE to ensure the recommendations of Dr O’Carroll’s report were implemented “and some of the key recommendations, in particular the expansion of access to primary care services in private emergency accommodation, have been implemented in the past year”.

However, Aontú party leader Peadar Tóibín described the figures as a “harsh reality” and said “we need to do better by vulnerable people in our country”.

He said “357 homeless people have died over the past five years in Dublin alone. What does that fact say about our Government and our society?”

Mr Tóibín said there was a risk of an increase in these figures over the winter period as the weather got colder.

The figures released to the party under Freedom of Information did not include any deaths outside the capital, as these are not recorded by other local authorities.

“Unfortunately and shockingly, the Government doesn’t even record the number of homeless deaths that happen throughout the rest of the country… If a government can’t analyse what’s happening it’s not going to be able to put in place the necessary supports to ensure that lives are saved,” Mr Tóibín said.