Homelessness crisis: ‘We tried everything to save Michelle from a life on the streets’

The heartbroken mother of a young woman whose body was recovered from Cork’s River Lee said her family tried everything to save her from a life on the streets.

Rita Murphy, who lives in the Glen on the northside of Cork, spoke of her grief yesterday following the death of her daughter, Michelle O’Riordan, 27, and said she wasn’t homeless, but admitted she always feared her daughter would be found dead.

“She made a choice to live this way,” Rita said. “She knew she had the offer of a bed in my place, or in her dad’s place.