A DUBLIN charity has said the community is 'reeling' after 'gentleman' Jack Watson and a mother-of-two children died in 24 hours.
Mr Watson and the unnamed woman died just hours apart in two separate incidents in Dublin and Kildare respectively on Wednesday August 30.
Irishman Mr Watson, aged in his 50s, had been sleeping rough in Dublin for a number of years when he was discovered unconscious close to Dublin's Grafton Street on Wednesday morning.
Mr Watson was taken to St James' Hospital around 4am, but was pronounced dead on route to the hospital.
Gardaí said his death is not being treated as suspicious and that foul play is not suspected at this time.
A Garda at the scene on Suffolk Street where Mr Watson was found unconscious. (Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie)Mr Watson had been a resident at Apollo House - the former social welfare office block occupied by housing campaigners for homeless people - last Christmas and had been described as a 'gentleman.'
Mr Watson had taken part in a photography project earlier this summer by photographer Geza Oravecz and barber Barry Caesar from Westend Barbers called A Beautiful Day in Dublin, to shine a spotlight on homelessness in the city.
It's understood he had been a former chef in Australia, but had struggled to find work since returning to Ireland.
Mr Watson had been a chef but struggled to find work after returning to Ireland from Australia. (Picture: Geza Oravecz)In a separate incident, an unnamed 26 year old woman, believed to be from south Dublin, was discovered at a hotel in Co Kildare around 10pm on Wednesday evening where she had been staying in emergency accommodation with her children.
Gardaí have said they are investigating the sudden death of the woman, and a post-mortem examination will be carried out.
Speaking on Morning Ireland, Anthony Flynn of Inner City Helping Homeless said the group had warned the Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy last week that deaths would be 'prevalent' on city streets before Christmas.
He also called for a new Government initiative to eliminate the scourge of homelessness.
"Within one week of that warning we have one death, and in another couple of hours we have another death in an emergency accommodation unit.
"The tragic death of a mother of two young children in an emergency accommodation unit in the last 24 hours is unacceptable."
Mr Flynn said based off figures compiled by their group last week, there are currently 206 people sleeping rough on Dublin streets.
In addition, there are 99 newly homeless families in Dublin, with 214 children now without a home according to Focus Ireland.
The new figures mean there is now a record number of 1,178 families with 2,423 children now homeless in the capital, the highest since January 2016.
When asked how the homeless situation should be handled in Ireland, Mr Flynn said: "We're open to all options, but the fact is we've seen six ministers in five years.
"We've seen 29 failed homeless housing initiatives through those ministers.
"We need a defacto CEO to take on homelessness and run it as an agency rather than a department or the council having control over services," he said.
"Mr Watson's death could have been avoidable, there were beds available in the system that weren't utilised on the night," he added.
