Two homeless men have died in Dublin overnight.

Gardaí said a man in his 40s was found dead on Longford Street in the early hours of this morning.

Shortly afterwards, a second man, also in his 40s, was dead on Leinster Lane near Government Buildings.

Speaking in the Dáil this morning, the Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald offered her condolences to his family.

“We are hearing very distressing news of the death of a man who lived in a tent close to the Dáil this morning,” she said.

“Can I just express my condolences to his family and his friends.

“It is almost six years to the day since the death of Jonathan Corrie so I just wanted to acknowledge the passing of this man and to say that the scandal of street homelessness and  rough sleeping needs to be dealt with and it needs to happen soon.”

Mr Corrie's death led to national outrage over Ireland's homelessness crisis and led to the first Emergency Summit on Homelessness at the Custom House.

The summit heard from homeless charities, housing agencies and the four Dublin local authorities – with the Government promising that everybody who wanted a bed would be provided with one.

Gardaí said the two deaths are not currently being treated as suspicious or linked.

'Highest number of deaths'

Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH) CEO Anthony Flynn said: "My thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of all of those who have died. These are tragic circumstances.

"Firstly let me state that these deaths were preventable.

We have continuously warned of the increased trend in deaths in homeless services.

"This brings the number to over 55 this year so far."

He also claimed a "serious contributory factor" in these deaths has been the "refusal" of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) to accommodate those who are not from the area.

"Although we are in a level five lockdown, homeless services are refusing people who are not from Dublin access to beds.

"I have called on the minister previously to lift this ban, but this has fallen on deaf ears"

He added: "2020 will see the highest number of deaths within homelessness in a calendar year and the year still isn't [over]".

Additional reporting: Jack Quann