Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Regarding the 382 deaths among those using homeless services in Dublin in 2018, we need to recall that the behind every number there is a person. We must always remember that with any death of a person experiencing homelessness, there is a family and loved ones who are grieving the loss of that person. Of course, just as is the case for people who are not homeless, people who are homeless can die for any number of different reasons.

I am advised the article is based on information released by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, DRHE, under freedom of information, FOI, which detailed number of deaths notified to the DRHE from January 2018 to December 2022 in each of the services it supports. It should be noted that the DRHE records death notifications from all its funded residential and outreach services. These include, for example, people who are in permanent tenancies and who have homes, people in Housing First tenancies who are in supported housing, people in long-term supported accommodation, and people receiving tenancy support. Some 43% of the deaths reported were in one of these categories. Of the 382 reported, 216 were classified as homeless at the time of their death. Of those 216 deaths, not all would have occurred in emergency accommodation. For example, some of the people would have died in hospital or in hospices while receiving treatment for a medical illness.

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