A charity bosses have issued a warning after a surge in suicides among homeless people in Dublin.
The dire situation was highlighted when a man, in his 30s, was found dead early on Thursday morning.
The Dubliner, who was well-known to the Inner City Helping Homeless charity (ICHH), is believed to have tragically taken his own life.
Meanwhile, the bodies of two women, aged 34 and 21, were discovered within hours of one another at a homeless centre on Tuesday.
It's understood the 34-year-old woman died by suicide while it remains unclear how the 21-year-old woman passed away.
A third woman, who had been living in the centre for a number of years, sadly died in hospital on Sunday evening.
ICHH CEO and local Councillor Anthony Flynn described the rise in the number of deaths as a "stain on the homeless services".
"There have been more deaths in homeless services than reported," he said.
"We've had four deaths in four days.
"But information obtained [on Thursday] indicates that there is serious under-reporting of deaths within the homeless service system."
Meanwhile, another prominent charity chief has today called for urgent supports to be made available to the most vulnerable members of society.
Tony Walsh, who set up the Feed Our Homeless in 2017, insisted the city council need to ensure at-risk people can access vital wrap-a-round-services.
He said: "Mental health has been huge throughout the pandemic and over the last few months alone we've heard of a number of people who have taken their own lives in the services, some with addiction issues."
He added: "But there is little or no access to supports for people who are suffering with mental health.
"They're just put in there and given a bed and put out the next day.
"And unfortunately homelessness and mental health comes hand in hand.
"Every single day we have somebody who is suffering severely with their mental health and we are contacting another team to come out to the rough sleepers and assess them.
"But, unfortunately in the hostels, particularly and in the private sector in the hostels....And this is not like the [Peter] McVerry or the Focus Ireland's, this is the private sector where they are just giving them a bed and they're putting them out the next day and then they're back on the free phone [number for a nightly bed].
"So what we're doing is we're calling on the DRHE [Dublin Region Homeless Executive], Dublin City Council and the relevant authorities to start implementing access to wrap-around services for people when they access the services."
The Irish Mirror contacted the DRHE for a response, and a spokeswoman said: "The DRHE is always saddened about reported deaths and strives to be conscious that all cases have a huge impact on families and indeed on service managers and other service users.
"The Private Service Operators managing emergency facilities in Dublin City have a good track record so far.
"We are satisfied with their performance and they always respond quickly to any problems that arise.
"We also have assigned two of our new Housing Support Officers to work with residents in these facilities.
"The HSE and the DRHE are working together to strengthen the health supports already in place in homeless services."
