Homeless man found dead in doorway in Cork city

Gardaí plan postmortem to discover cause of 53-year-old rough sleeper’s death

A homeless man was found dead in a doorway in Cork city early on Sunday morning.

The 53-year-old's body was discovered on Wandesford Quay off Washington Street near the city centre at about 7am by a passerby.

The emergency services were called and attended to the man but he was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was removed to Cork University Hospital for a postmortem.

Gardaí say there is nothing suspicious about the death of the man but they are hoping that the postmortem will establish the cause of death.

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It is understood that the man, who is originally from the south side of the city, had been sleeping rough but no further details about his circumstances have emerged.

Drug-taking paraphernalia

On March 4th, a man in his 50s was found dead off the Old Blackrock Road in Cork and gardaí found some drug-taking paraphernalia nearby leading to the belief he may have died from a drugs overdose.

A postmortem examination was carried out on the man, believed to be a foreign national who had previously lived in a homeless hostel, and gardaí are still awaiting the results of toxicology tests.

Record high

Cork Simon’s annual report for 2016 found that a record high of 53 people accessed the group’s shelter on Anderson Street per night, representing an increase from 39 per night in 2013.

The average stay was 54 nights – the longest average time on record – while the number of people classed as long-term homeless increased for the third successive year to a figure of 52 people.

Barry Roche

Barry Roche

Barry Roche is Southern Correspondent of The Irish Times