Gardaí are investigating a second sudden death on the streets of Cork city in just four days of someone who was known to the homeless services.

The latest investigation was launched today following the discovery of the body of a man in his 30s on Penrose Quay at around midday.

Emergency services were alerted but the man, who is understood to be from Cork, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The man was known to various homeless services and is understood to have availed of one of those services to bed down on Sunday night.

He is understood to have been in good form when he woke and left yesterday morning.

Gardaí are now trying to trace his last known movements and are hoping to speak to anyone who was in contact with him, or who was in his company, in the hours before his death in a bid to shed light on what might have happened.

A post mortem will be performed in a bid to establish the exact cause of death to be included in the garda file for the coroner.

It is the second death on the streets since Friday of someone who was known to the city’s homeless services.

Gardaí are still investigating all the circumstances surrounding the death of a man, also in his 30s, who was found close to the city’s main bus station on Parnell Place, at around 6am last Friday.

This man, who is also believed to be from Cork, is understood to have engaged with the homeless services up to a year ago.

But it was thought that he had re-engaged with family members and had gone some way towards rebuilding his life before Friday’s tragic outcome.

Sources said the circumstances of his death came as a shock to those in the homeless services who would have worked with him over a year ago.

The results of toxicology tests are awaited before a decision can be made on whether a suspected drugs overdose was a contributory factor in this sudden death.

However, pending the outcome of the various post mortem tests in both cases, gardaí have confirmed that at this stage, they are treating neither death as suspicious.

There are no known links between the two men either, other than the fact that both had engaged with the homeless services.