A homeless man was found dead in a doorway in Cork city early on Sunday morning.
The 53-year-old's body was discovered on Wandesford Quay off Washington Street near the city centre at about 7am by a passerby.
The emergency services were called and attended to the man but he was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was removed to Cork University Hospital for a postmortem.
Gardaí say there is nothing suspicious about the death of the man but they are hoping that the postmortem will establish the cause of death.
It is understood that the man, who is originally from the south side of the city, had been sleeping rough but no further details about his circumstances have emerged.
Drug-taking paraphernalia
On March 4th, a man in his 50s was found dead off the Old Blackrock Road in Cork and gardaí found some drug-taking paraphernalia nearby leading to the belief he may have died from a drugs overdose.
A postmortem examination was carried out on the man, believed to be a foreign national who had previously lived in a homeless hostel, and gardaí are still awaiting the results of toxicology tests.
Record high
Cork Simon’s annual report for 2016 found that a record high of 53 people accessed the group’s shelter on Anderson Street per night, representing an increase from 39 per night in 2013.
The average stay was 54 nights – the longest average time on record – while the number of people classed as long-term homeless increased for the third successive year to a figure of 52 people.