The Head of Research at the Dublin Homeless Region Executive has told RTÉ News that almost all of the homeless people whose deaths she has studied from a certain year died because of drug or alcohol abuse.
Dr Bernie O'Donoghue Hynes said that 92% of the 53 homeless deaths from 2014 which she has researched were caused directly or indirectly by drug or alcohol.
Dr O' Donoghue Hynes will address a symposium on street medicine in UCD on the topic of "Knowing more about mortality and cause of death amongst the homeless population in the Dublin Region".
The symposium will take place on Friday morning.
A wider two-day conference will also be addressed by Minister for Health Simon Harris, who will officially launch an upgraded mobile health unit operated by Safetynet Primary Care.
An upgraded mobile health unit has begun working with some of the most vulnerable homeless people in Dublin pic.twitter.com/9likde9XrV
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) September 27, 2017
On Saturday, the gathering will hear from the north inner-city Dublin GP, Dr Austin O'Carroll, who is the Medial Director of Safetynet.
He will speak on the topic of "How service providers are reacting to the homeless crisis".
This will be followed by an address by Marieke Altena, of the HSE's National Social Inclusion Office.
