The University College Dublin (UCD) flag was flown at half mast last week following the death of Michael Byrne.
There is very little known about the elusive figure who frequented the university s campus and affectionately became known as Old Man Belfield , but what is clear is that he lived outdoors for at least 50 years.
In the 1970s Miriam McCarthy, a local woman who volunteered with Dublin s Simon Community, came upon the solitary figure on a run-down site near St Vincent s Hospital in Dublin 4 and approached to offer help, but her attempts at conversation were met with silence.
As the weeks went on she brought food and hot drinks to his makeshift hut, but quickly realised he was deeply private and independent and so kept an eye from a distance, becoming an unofficial guardian of sorts.