‘Absolutely disgusting’: Homeless man suffers ‘life-changing’ injuries after tent cleared away by Dublin city council

Calls for full investigation as man seriously injured in attempt to clear tents from canal banks

Leo Varadkar has said city council workers checked the tents for people before removing them but 'obviously something went wrong' (PA)

A homeless man is in serious condition in hospital after being injured when a tent he was sleeping him was removed by an industrial vehicle in Dublin.

Dublin City Council have confirmed that the man was injured during an attempt to remove tents from the banks of the city’s Grand Canal amid an ongoing homelessness crisis in Ireland’s capital.

Figures released by the Department of Housing earlier this month showed more than 4,500 people are homeless in the city.

The incident is currently being investigated by the Gardai, Ireland’s police service, who said the man had been taken to St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin, where he is a “serious condition but stable”.

He has reportedly undergone surgery for his injuries, which have been described as “life-changing” by local media.

News of the accident has been met with outrage from Irish politicians and homelessness charities, who have called for a full investigation into the incident.

Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s prime minister, said he did not want to comment fully on the case at this stage but noted that the man was known to homelessness services.

“He is well-known to homeless services and has been offered emergency accommodation in the past and will be offered it again in the future — but obviously our thoughts are with him and we hope he makes a speedy recovery,” Mr Varadkar said.

“My understanding is the city council and Waterways Ireland did check the tents before removing them but obviously something went wrong here.”

Brendan Howlin, leader of the Irish Labour Party, has said the incident is “beyond shocking”.

“We need to obviously have a full investigation into what happened to him, how that could have happened,” he said.

“But we also need a clear direction now to ensure that nobody else is left in tents in vulnerable places like that or any place else.”

Joan Collins, an independent member of parliament in Dublin, described the situation as “horrendous” and said serious questions needed to be asked about what city council workers were instructed to do.

Dublin City Council has said the tents were being removed from the banks of the canal because they were in a “precarious and dangerous location” and insisted its actions were taken “in the interest of health and safety” of people who are homeless.

Both the city council and the government body Waterways Ireland have said they will not comment any further while an investigation is ongoing.

Inner City Helping Homeless, a charity that works to help homeless people in Dublin, has strongly criticised the response by Waterways.

“We have heard of tents being removed with people’s worldly belongings taken and now we have a man seriously injured because no one checked the tent before taking it?” the charity said.

“Absolutely disgusting to treat human beings like this.”

Anthony Flynn, the charity’s CEO and an independent councillor for Dublin Central, told RTE Radio that the incident was not the first time Waterways Ireland had tried to move people sleeping in tents near the canal.