Gardaí are trying to contact the family of the homeless English man accidentally crushed to death in Limerick when the commercial bin in which he was sleeping was emptied into a refuse collection truck.
The body of the 36-year-old man, who is understood to have been living rough in Ireland for about five years, was discovered on Monday by workers at the Mr Binman waste recycling centre in Grange, Co Limerick, when they were sorting rubbish deposited that morning.
A postmortem by State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy yesterday established that the man's death was caused by severe crush injuries incurred accidentally when the bin was emptied into a refuse truck.
Gardaí said yesterday they believed the victim had taken shelter in the bin on Sunday night when temperatures dropped, and that he was asleep and alive when it was loaded on to the truck.
It is believed the man was born in southern England. He spent most of his time in Ireland in Cork and only arrived in Limerick on Thursday.
Supt Frank O'Brien, leading the investigation in Limerick, confirmed last night that identification had been found on the deceased man's body. He said his name would not be released until all of his family in England had been informed of his death.
Gardaí have also sent fingerprint samples to the British police to confirm his identity.
Supt O'Brien appealed to members of Limerick's homeless community who might know anything about the man's movements.
Yesterday, Alice Leahy, director and co-founder of Trust, the social and health service for the homeless, called for the urgent provision of more emergency sheltered accommodation.
Ms Leahy said a similar incident was reported in the media a few weeks ago when the driver collecting a skip noticed there was a person taking shelter in it.
"The failure to provide adequate emergency sheltered accommodation means the most vulnerable and totally excluded in Irish society must seek accommodation wherever they can find it . . .
"We have no excuse, at a time of great prosperity, for failing to address the accommodation needs of society's true outsiders," said Ms Leahy.
She described the failure to address emergency accommodation as a complete abdication of responsibility by those responsible for the State's homeless services.
"Outsiders in our society will continue to face appalling, and even outrageously dangerous, conditions on the streets," she said.
The mayor of Limerick, Ger Fahy, said the man's death was a terrible tragedy and extended his sympathy to his family.