It’s emerged a bridge at the Royal Canal in Dublin has been flooded to discourage homeless people from using it.
Rough sleepers use Binns Bridge on Dorset Street for shelter and somewhere to stay.
Waterways Ireland is defending raising the water level - saying it’s to prevent drug use and public defecation, as well as for public safety reasons.
In a statement about the move - which was originally reported by the Dublin Inquirer earlier this month - Waterways Ireland said: "Any homeless people sleeping under the bridge were at serious risk of a significant fall and drowning hazard in the deep lock chamber.
"All the alternative solutions we have tried to maintain public safety in the area, including fencing it off, have failed."
But volunteer Padraig Drummond with Inner City Helping Homeless says it’s inhumane:
