The worsening problem of homelessness in Dublin must not be ignored any longer, the Simon Community has said.

The charity, which provides a range of services to homeless people and those at risk of homelessness, was responding to the tragic death of a homeless man who was sleeping rough on Molesworth Street, close to the Dail, earlier this week.

According to Sam McGuinness of the Dublin Simon Community, this death ‘highlights the worrying increase of rough sleeping'. He said that people sleeping on the streets are ‘very vulnerable, particularly as we move into the colder weather and are experiencing harsher conditions'.

"Over the past year, we have continuously voiced our concern at the ever rising number of people living without a roof over their head and rough sleeping in very vulnerable and chaotic situations. Our soup run and rough sleeper team, who are out 365 nights of the year, have seen a drastic increase in the numbers of people looking for our help," he noted.

He described rough sleeping as a ‘slow death on the street'.

Mr McGuinness also pointed out that according to the recent Dublin Region Homeless Executive Winter 2014 count, almost 170 people were sleeping rough on November 11 - the highest figure recorded since the official count began back in 2007.

This winter figure marks a 32% increase on the spring figure and a 20% increase on the winter 2013 figure.

"Even more shocking is that in the last two years rough sleeping has risen by 93%, nearly double the count of winter 2012 (87). It's not good enough that this should be happening just on the doorstep of our parliament. Something radical has to be done because we are going to definitely have more deaths of innocent people on the street," Mr McGuinness added.