The case of the homeless ‘pigeon man’ in Dublin who may be Maltese will be investigated further by the Embassy of Malta “in the coming days”.

“However, in light of the fact that we are treating this as a consular case, with its related sensitivities, I have been advised to take a step back from divulging additional information,” chargé d’affaires Chantal Sciberras said.

The homeless man, identified as Martin, became an unwitting internet sensation in Malta on Monday when a recording of an interview with him was uploaded on broadsheet.ie by Irish photographer Donal Moloney.

It was flagged by blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was convinced he sounded like a well-spoken Maltese man of a certain generation from the Sliema area.

Mr Moloney said he visited Martin once again yesterday and bought him breakfast.

“We had a great chat and he now instantly recognised me,” Mr Moloney said.

“I still have no evidence that he is Maltese. I will let you know as soon as I have something but it’s unlikely to be very soon. It’s impossible to piece together his stories and whether they are fiction or non-fiction.”

In a second clip uploaded on Tuesday, Martin said he had been to Malta when he was aged “five or six”, but he also said he was born in the US and had lived in Australia and Russia.

The chargé d’affaires pointed out that the embassy had not received any formal request for assistance from either Martin, his relatives, a medical professional or any authorities.

“In this regard, caution is further called for as this gentleman might be upset by unwarranted, and possibly intrusive, offers of assistance,” she said.

Mr Moloney’s relationship with Martin began earlier this month when the photographer took an eye-catching shot of the bearded man feeding pigeons and uploaded it on broadsheet.ie.