River Lee deaths prompt calls to tackle homelessness

Having somewhere to call home is important to help people address whatever other challenges they may face, a campaigner against homelessness has declared. Cork Simon Director Dermot Kavanagh released a statement as gardaí continue to investigate the deaths of two homeless people found in the River Lee in Cork.

Mr Kavanagh said that he didn’t wish to comment specifically on the deaths of Michelle O’Riordan (27) and Paddy O’Driscoll (53), whose bodies were recovered from the River Lee in Cork on Sunday night.

“Our thoughts go out to their families - it’s an awful tragedy for both families particularly coming up to Christmas . . . It must be devastating for everyone involved . . . It really is desperately sad, ” said Mr Kavanagh, who extended his condolences to the families of both deceased.

Ms O’Riordan, who was from Lagan Grove in Mayfield on Cork’s north side, had been homeless for some time while Mr O’Driscoll, originally from Marsh Road in Skibbereen in West Cork, had been sleeping rough in Cork city for several years.

Their bodies were found around 8am on Sunday night at Custom House Quay in Cork by Naval Service divers, following a major search operation also involving Mallow Search and Rescue, Crosshaven Coastguard, Cork City Fire Brigade and Cork City Missing Persons.

Gardaí had been alerted after Ms O’Riordan had not been seen since December 4th, when she was spotted on Anderson’s Quay near Cork Simon’s shelter. Officers became increasing concerned for her when they found a bag with some of her belongings on the quay.

While checking CCTV footage from the area, they identified her and a man walking towards Custom House Quay and a major search operation was concentrated in the vicinity over the weekend.

Using side-scanning sonar equipment donated by the family of the late Brian O'Tuama, who drowned in the River Lee in 2009, Mallow Search and Rescue identified two objects on the river bed near the Port of Cork sign on Custom House Quay.
Naval Service divers searched the area and recovered the bodies of both Ms O'Riordan and Mr O'Driscoll near each other. Both were removed to Cork University Hospital for formal identification and postmortems.

Gardaí have not formally released the results of the postmortem examinations but they are treating both deaths as "tragic incidents".

Commenting on the problem of homelessness in Cork, Mr Kavanagh said that the charity has seen a major increase in the numbers of people sleeping rough in the city, with the numbers increasing by 358 per cent over the past two years.

“Homelessness on one level is straightforward but on another, it is a complex problem . . . Sometimes people can have issues that lead to homelessness but in other cases people end up losing their homes and they develop other problems in trying to cope with that.”

“Addressing whatever issues people may have in terms of mental health or addiction problems is best done from a stable base that they can call home and that’s why it is so important that we eliminate rough sleeping here in Cork and elsewhere,” he said.