The Minister for the Environment is to hold a special forum on homelessness in Dublin this Thursday, following the death of a homeless man just metres from Leinster House.

Alan Kelly says his "heart goes out" to people sleeping rough, particularly at this time of the year.

The forum he will convene on Thursday will include councillors and council officials in Dublin, as well as representatives from voluntary groups, including the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin.

Dr Martin says the Catholic Church is preparing a "significant" housing unit in central Dublin which is to be opened and made available to homeless people in the coming weeks.

The forum will come three days after Jonathan Corrie, 43, was found dead by a passerby at a doorstep regularly used by journalists filming TV pieces using Leinster House as a backdrop.

This morning Minister Kelly said he'd embrace anything that could help to provide shelter for people on the streets.

Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly filed this report for the National Lunchtime News: