Campaigners for homeless people say they are afraid more rough sleepers will die on the streets this winter.
It comes as two homeless people died in Dublin this week.
It emerged this morning that a man who had been sleeping rough near the Four Courts in the city centre passed away on Monday night.
The Lithuanian national was found unresponsive at around 8pm on Monday evening. He was taken to the Mater Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
It comes as another homeless man in his late-fifties was found unresponsive in a tent in Ranelagh yesterday afternoon.
He was taken to St Vincent's Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy offered his sympathies and claimed the government is taking action to tackle the crisis:
"We have a cold weather initiative for the winter months when it gets particularly cold to go out and to get people in," he said.
"That was activated last night and will run for the next few nights.
"That puts in place an additional 67 beds to have spare capacity in the system."
He said the latest crises illustrate "exactly why we did not want to have an election" adding that these are "the real types of issues and crises" Government is there to deal with.
"What has happened for this individual is very tragic and of course I extend my sympathies to his family and friends.
"I can't go into the individual circumstances of this person's life for obvious reasons."
Meanwhile, the Peter McVerry trust said it was "deeply saddened" to hear of the two homeless deaths.
The charity said there has been an unprecedented number of deaths involving people sleeping rough since late August:
"Some people have had such broken trust and are so vulnerable, that they don't want to come in to the hostels even if you have the beds," he said.
"I think we are doing everything we can to bring in more beds, but in the complex cases, even on the night of Storm Ophelia - some people would not come in."
As temperatures continue to plunge, volunteers working with the homeless people are warning the Government that lives are at stake.
