A RECORD 79 rough sleepers died in Dublin alone last year as Ireland continues to grapple with a homelessness crisis.
Figures released by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) report - which is due to be presented to the Housing Committee tomorrow - showed that homeless deaths in the capital have jumped significantly in the past year, with just 50 dying in 2019.
Of the 79 that died, 44 had been in emergency accommodation, 27 had been in long-term supported tenancies and eight had died while sleeping rough.
Five of the deaths were unspecified.
Despite this though, the report shows that there's been a decrease of 446 families in emergency accommodation since the start of last year.
But Ireland's homelessness crisis remains a key problem.
Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien admitted that only 400 affordable rental homes will be delivered this year despite promising 10,000 affordable housing units each year in government.
CEO of Inner-City Helping Homeless Anthony Flynn confirmed that the 79 figure was a record for Dublin and said that the national totals were probably in the hundreds.
"The bigger picture needs to be taken into account. The figures that we have are only Dublin-based," he told Extra.ie.
"We haven't got Cork, we haven't got Limerick ... these figures are up into the hundreds.
"If you were in any other social setting across this country, whether it be a hospital, Tusla, there would be an investigation into each death and a report on that investigation.
"Homeless services is the only setting where that is not happening."
