Depaul charity hopes to reopen homeless hostel hit by fatal explosion within days

Depaul, the charity operating the Dublin city centre homelessness accommodation centre where a man died after an explosion last week, hopes the facility can reopen in the coming days.

Gardaí investigating the incident at the centre on Little Britain Street last Thursday afternoon have yet to complete their examination of the scene, where an improvised device is believed to have exploded under the resident’s bed.

The deceased, a Lithuanian national in his 30s, is thought to have owned the device. The explosion was confined to his room. Gardaí have not released his name as efforts continue to locate and inform his family.

A Garda spokeswoman said on Sunday there was no update on the investigation since Friday. “It remains ongoing and the man has not and will not be named by An Garda Síochána,” she said.

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It is unclear how long the man had been staying at the hostel, a supported temporary accommodation facility where people can live for up to six months.

It provides beds for up to 82 single men, women and couples, with key workers on-site and weekly in-reach primary care and addiction services provided by Safetynet and Ana Liffey.

At the time of the explosion there were 72 residents, some of whom were forced to flee immediately when the explosion occurred just after 3.15pm on Thursday. Some residents are currently staying in accommodation elsewhere in the city. They had to leave all of their possessions behind, but may be able to return this week.

The charity’s chief executive, David Carroll, said there was a “great degree of pride” at how quickly the other residents and staff left the building and got to safety when the explosion occurred. “All of those 71 people continue to be accommodated and will be accommodated over the next couple of days,” he said.

“We hope to be able to get back into Little Britain Street as soon as possible but, in the meantime, we’ll be supporting all of our service users with welfare advice and emergency payments.”

Mr Carroll said the premises was a “critical” piece of infrastructure for homeless people in Dublin and he was hopeful it would be able to open again soon.

The explosion prompted a big security operation on Thursday, involving the Defence Forces assisting the Garda. The Defence Forces’ Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit, using a robot, carried out a controlled explosion on the remains of the device.

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