The funeral takes place in Dublin today of a 38-year-old man who died of hypothermia within months of being evicted from his local authority flat by the city council.
Mr Noel Cahill had been sleeping rough in the grounds of Fatima Mansions, a block of flats close to St James's Hospital, when he died last Thursday. He had been evicted from a flat in the block last October.
Dublin Corporation has begun an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the man's death but said preliminary findings indicated he had been evicted because of rent arrears of up to €600 and because of anti-social behaviour at his flat.
Mr Cahill had a drink problem and while he did not abuse other drugs, he had allowed his flat to be used by those involved in drug abuse, the corporation claimed.
A spokeswoman for the local authority insisted Mr Cahill would have been offered alternative accommodation when evicted. This could have been at a hostel for homeless persons or at bed-and-breakfast type accommodation, she said.
She said Mr Cahill had been in hospital a number of times since his eviction and had stayed with a number of different people, some of them at Fatima Mansions. "It seems to be that in the last 10 days he was sleeping outdoors," she said.
The circumstances of the man's death have been described as unacceptable by the Minister for Health, Mr Martin. Speaking on RTÉ radio on Saturday, he said what occurred was "very disturbing" and represented "a failure of the system".
Labour spokesperson on the environment, Mr Eamon Gilmore, described Mr Cahill's death as a terrible tragedy. It was an event, he said, that should have no place in modern Ireland.
"The death of Noel Cahill highlights the vulnerability of the homeless, especially in the depths of winter.
"There are believed to be as many as 5,000 homeless in the greater Dublin area and there is a real danger of other deaths unless the proper support systems are in place to assist the homeless," he said.