Simon Community calls for action following death of homeless woman in Limerick

THE Simon Community in Limerick is calling for urgent action to be taken following the death of a homeless woman in the city yesterday.

The body of the woman, who has been named as Louise “BuBu” Casey, was discovered in the basement of a derelict building at Catherine Street shortly before midday on Tuesday.

While a post mortem examination is to be carried out, gardai investigating the circumstances of the death of the 31-year-old do not suspect foul play. 

Geraldine Clancy of Mid West Simon Community says her death shows immediate and appropriate action must be taken to reduce the numbers of people sleeping rough.

“We really want the government to treat it as an emergency as it is and to try and open up as many hostel beds as possible, as many winter beds as possible and as much emergency accommodation as possible,” she said.

Meanwhile, Joe Lynch (55), a friend of Ms Casey’s, described her as “a caring person with a heart of gold”.

“BuBu was homeless for the past few years. We used to go to the soup run at 7pm every evening, and we’d go to Mallow Street Hall on a Sunday for dinner,” said the father-of-two.