Roscommon Senator 'forced to sleep in car' due to Dublin room shortage

A Roscommon Senator this week said he slept overnight in the forecourt of a filling station in Westmeath on two occasions because he was unable to get a hotel room in Dublin.

Eugene Murphy, who was a Roscommon-Galway TD from 2016 to 2020, and who subsequently became a Senator, spoke about the issue on Claire Byrne's RTE radio programme this week.

Yesterday's Irish Daily Mail included a story about an unnamed Oireachtas member who slept in their car because they were unable to secure a place to stay in Dublin.

Listeners to Claire Byrne's programme were told that Senator Murphy was not the subject of the Irish Daily Mail story but that he could "certainly identify with it" because he'd had similar experiences himself.

"Particularly over the last month to six weeks, it has been extremely difficult to get a room anywhere in the Dublin region," said the Fianna Fáil representative.

"I don't want to be whingeing about this because there are people in far greater difficulty out there in relation to housing. This is a matter we can get over, but it definitely is happening at the moment."

In addition to their salary, Oireachtas members receive an overnight accommodation allowance of €120, but Senator Murphy said he hadn't looked for a room in Dublin's pricier hotels because he wouldn't pay more than €200 for a hotel stay.

"On a point of principle I wouldn't pay more than €200 for a hotel, so to be honest I wouldn't have tried the more expensive hotels," he said.

When Claire Byrne asked him why he didn't drive home on the nights when he had nowhere to stay in the capital, Senator Murphy said his work in Dublin often went on until 10pm.

"I wouldn't get out of there before 10. I'd be lucky to get home in two hours-plus, so maybe 12 or shortly after 12. I'd get to bed by 1, and then I would have to be up at 4am to try and beat the traffic in the morning and get in (to Dublin) before 7.30.

"It's difficult, it's tough. In my situation you'd end up with three and a half hours' sleep, and you'd definitely find that the next day that you're just not able to function as you should because of lack of sleep."

He said that on the nights he spent in his car he had driven to a filling station in the Mullingar area.

"Usually around Mullingar I would pull in at a forecourt, sleep there, and at around 5.30 in the morning wake up and head for Dublin.

"You would try to shave and have a change of clothes when you got to your office, and get a bit of breakfast, but you certainly don't feel good in the morning after such an event."

He said he had never slept in his car inside the gates of Leinster House, but he knew of somebody who did on one occasion.

"I did think about sleeping in my office one time, but that probably wouldn't be a proper thing to do," he said.

Senator Murphy said there were a small number of Oireachtas members who had similar difficulties getting accommodation in Dublin, but they were reluctant to talk about it.

"We do accept that people are in very difficult housing circumstances, and whatever the difficulty or challenge we have in this it's very small compared to what other people are suffering," he commented.