Woman is found dead in grounds of church

THE body of a woman in her 20s has been found in the grounds of a church in Dublin city centre.

The woman, who was believed to be homeless, was discovered at St Michan’s Church on Arran Quay in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The church is close to the Capuchin Day Centre, which provides food to the homeless.

It is believed she died suddenly and gardaí are not treating her death as suspicious.

Brian McLoughlin, a spokesman for the Inner City Helping Homeless charity, criticised the Government, saying it was another avoidable death on the city’s streets.

‘This has to stop. Homelessness and housing are at national emergency levels and we still don’t see proper action being taken by the Government,’ he said.

‘The main solution from government in reducing the number of homeless people in the country seems to be to reclassify people, remove nonEU nationals and people in longterm health facilities from homeless figures.

‘The political will just isn’t there to fix this issue, it doesn’t seem to matter how many deaths occur on our streets, it doesn’t change the lack of urgency from the Government.’