When 30-year-old Cian Murtagh found himself homeless on the streets of Dublin and Cork, there appeared to be little prospect he might ever find himself a home.
However, thousands of people from the Limerick village of Kilbehenny and beyond helped Cian turn his fortunes around with the launch of a GoFundMe page last year.
Since then, and almost 3,000 donations later, over €97,000 have been raised to help him buy his dream home. The Meath man, who once feared he might die on the streets, has now bought a derelict cottage in rural Sligo for €41,000.
Cian previously told a Virgin Media documentary how he had grown up in State care, but after leaving at the age of 18, found himself on the streets of Dublin, all the while holding down a full-time job in the construction industry to try and put a roof over his head.
The spiralling cost of Dublin rent deprived Cian a chance to fulfil his dream of having a home, and he ended up on the streets.
He told the moving 2023 documentary last year how he was living rough, saying: “It’s very hard to save up – I’m nearly three years at this now.”
Daily assaults on the streets of the capital made him move to Cork. While he hoped for a new start, he ended up sleeping rough there too.
Painting a grim picture of life on the streets, Cian told the programme how he had endured violence, namely from other homeless people who saw him as a target as they thought he had money, having had his teeth broken, requiring two root canals, and how his ribs had also been broken.
“I’ve nearly been murdered at least three times. Yeah, it’s dangerous,” he said. “I’m hitting 30 and I’ve barely been able to start my life. I grew up in care. I’ve no addictions. I do drink, but very rarely and not when I work. I work five to six days a week in construction – building apartment blocks and houses, but I don’t have one. It’s kind of ironic. It really does sum up this island, I think.”
Cian spoke to the programme about long days of working hard, before returning to the streets to find a coffee shop to charge his phone to set an alarm, doing it all again.
“Rinse and repeat. It’s a slave life,” he said. “No matter how you got here, you realise you’re just an outcast,” he added.
“I’m a proud person by nature. I believe that the more you contribute, the more you gain. I wouldn’t be the type of person to reach out and ask for help.”
Cian said his main goal in life was to one day have five acres, to live in the countryside, and be self-sufficient.
“I realise that’s a very long-term goal on this island,” he said. “It annoys me that I’m putting in so much effort to build these houses that I’ll never afford,” he added.
“Maybe I am entitled though. Maybe I expect too much too soon.”
He spoke about how after six months rough sleeping in Cork, he made the decision that he had endured enough, and wanted to die. He planned to starve himself and die in a secluded place where nobody could find him or try to save him.
“I can’t do it anymore. I work full time and can’t find somewhere to live. I’ve never had a life, ever. I’ve been through every system in this State. I didn’t choose this. I didn’t choose to be born, I didn’t choose to go into care, I didn’t choose to get stabbed near 50 times for just existing, I didn’t choose any of that,” he railed in the programme.
“I wanted to go somewhere hidden so nobody could find me as I didn’t want to be taken to hospital or saved,” he said.
Instead, the community both in Cork and Limerick, through Kilbehenny Community Centre, came together to help give Cian the home he wanted in Ireland.
This came after Cian was approached by local woman Maeve O’Brien in Cork, after he had started journeying towards the Galtee Mountains. This was during the first week of January this year, at which point the 30-year-old had been living mostly on liquids including water, soup, and hot chocolate provided by a homeless charity, Kindness Krew, in Cork.
He said at that stage, he had given up on food, and had decided to give up on water as well.
“I had given up food but I was still healthy and I felt like it’s not working. So, I gave up water as well,” he said, adding: “ wanted to go somewhere hidden so nobody could find me as I didn’t want to be taken to hospital or saved.”
“I was near Kilbehenny in County Limerick when a woman suddenly stopped and offered me a lift. I thought it was weird because I wasn’t even thumbing up.
“I would have looked a well dodgy, skeletal man with a haggard effect, just carrying a bag and walking through.
“I went to her and told her that many people would think I am a serial killer and she was like what and I said don’t worry, I am harmless.
“Later, she found out through social media that the soup run group had reported me missing and they were concerned about my whereabouts.”
He said the soup group in the area knew him well for not eating, however, they used to bring him a cup of his favourite hot chocolate, which he could never turn down.
“Each morning, I would get up and look forward to hot chocolate. I think when you are starving yourself your mind will only think about food,” he recalled in a conversation with the Sligo Champion.
Carmel O’Gorman, from Mitchelstown in Cork, is friends with the Kindness Crew members who helped Cian, and she was informed by them that he had last been seen in Mitchelstown. They organised a search party, which included Maeve O’Brien, the Limerick woman who had offered Cian a lift.
Ms O’Gorman said that Cian had “lost all hope and had completely given up on food and water.” The concerned group found him on 14th January, and brought him to a hospital, even though he was refusing any form of help.
Cian spent three weeks in hospital, and then stayed with Ms O’Gorman for five weeks, with the group setting up a Go Fund Me fundraiser to buy him his own house.
“We couldn’t find anything affordable in Cork but we found a derelict house in Sligo and our offer of €41,000 was accepted,” she told the newspaper.
The Sligo Champion reports that Cian has now moved to Sligo, and is currently camping outside the cottage until he can secure planning permission and further funds to renovate the property.
Filled with renewed hope, he told the paper this week that it is an outcome which is “more than what I had dreamed of.”
“This is more than what I had dreamed of for so many years living on the streets but it still needs a lot of investment to make it good enough for residing in,” he told the Sligo Champion.
“I think the house was last lived in more than 20 years ago and has not been taken care of afterwards. There is no water supply or electricity or even a bathroom.
“There needs to be a lot done before I could actually move in.
“The regulations are really funny when it comes to homelessness. I own a house now but I still have to be homeless because my house is not safe enough to live in.
“One would have to rent a place and spend money if they want to renovate their place, which is crazy.
“The problem is that these regulations are made by people who have never faced any actual issues. They have never been in such situations to understand what a person like me has to go through.”
Cian says he is overwhelmed by the support, and he says he also feels ready to return to work in construction.
“This is the best I could have dreamed of, at least I have shelter and a roof over my head.
“I have paid the ESB for an electricity connection and I am waiting for planning permission to start any work which would cost me another €40,000,” he said.
“I would first like to get a septic tank installed and plumbing done, so that I can stay clean and maintain hygiene. I also need to do the roof as it seems like it’s seeping, letting moisture in.
“As for food I would probably just get an air fryer instead of installing a big cooker for now. In the future when I have enough money, I would like to get the house extended to get an extra room for kids.”
The GoFundMe page set up for Cian can be viewed here.