Latvian couple and their two children had nowhere left to turn until an ‘angel’ passerby entered their lives
The couple, originally from Latvia, and their two young children, had been sleeping in their car in a council‑owned car park after being unable to access emergency accommodation.
Speaking to Independent.ie on condition that the family are not identified, the father recounted the long and painful series of events that led them from Latvia to Ireland in 2022.
“The Ukraine war had started and we were afraid it was going to affect our country. We came to Ireland for safety,” he said.
The couple first settled in Galway before their children were born. They moved east, hoping it would help them build a more secure future. He took a job in Drogheda, and they eventually found a rented home in Lusk, Co Dublin, and welcomed two children — a daughter, followed nearly two years later by a son.
But their stability began to unravel when their landlord, who accepted rent only in cash and referred to them merely as “guests”, told them they had to leave.
Their plight was highlighted this week at a meeting of Louth County Council by Cllr Declan Power, who described how the family then discovered they were ineligible for emergency accommodation in both Fingal and Louth.
“I tried everywhere — the council in both counties and the gardaí… but no one was listening,” the father said.
With the limited savings he had, he paid for hotel rooms. But the cost quickly added up.
The family are pictured beside the car where they slept every night in a car park in Louth. They have asked not to be identified.
“We had no choice then but to look for somewhere to park and stay in the car. The two kids were in the back, and we slept in the front seats. It was terrible — the weather was so bad, and the kids had panic about it.”
He parked in a council‑managed car park because it gave them access to toilets. But the fear, cold, and uncertainty began to take a toll on the family.
Then, one night, everything changed.
“One night a man came up to us… he saw our car parked there. I can only say he turned our lives around 360 degrees.”
The man was Termonfeckin resident, Mikey Lennon, whose intervention was described by Cllr. Power as an example of humanity stepping in where the system did not.
Mr Lennon revealed how he had taken up a daily five‑kilometre run along the coastline when he began to notice the same car parked in the same spot each evening.
I told him it must have been a miracle that I parked there too, and noticed them. God meant for me to help.
“I was parking up every evening and started to notice this same car,” he said. “It was strange, but I didn’t want to interfere initially.”
One night, however, he spotted a young child sitting on the dashboard and knew something was wrong.
“When I saw the two children I knew they weren’t okay. My heart sank. I began to ask them what was wrong, why they were parked up,” he said.
Soon, it became clear the family had been sleeping in the car for weeks, after being unable to secure emergency accommodation.
“I knew I was not going to let them stay in the car park any longer,” Mikey explains.
“Straight away I knew I had to help. It was the next night before the dad opened up a little. I could see he was a broken man. There was no threat — this was just a human being who was broken.”
Mikey told the father he believed it was more than coincidence that he had crossed their path.
“I told him it must have been a miracle that I parked there too, and noticed them. God meant for me to help.”
That same night, he went home to speak with his partner Jackie about what they could do.
“She just began to get a room ready for them in our house,” he said.
Mikey Lennon with his partner Jackie, who offered shelter in their Termonfeckin home to a young family.
The two men had exchanged phone numbers, and Mikey texted to offer the family a safe place to stay.
“It took about twenty text messages for him to trust me, and to take up the offer of help. I can understand that — I told him it might seem strange as so many people had fobbed them off. But not me. Not our family.”
He vividly remembers the moment the family arrived at his home.
“The faces on the two young children when they pulled up at our house… it nearly broke my heart. I just thought, how on earth could anyone let this family face this situation?”
While protecting their identity, Mikey took a video of the family’s car and posted their story online.
“Within an hour it had over 25,000 views — and that just continued.”
Seeing the reaction, he started a GoFundMe appeal to raise funds so the family could secure temporary accommodation.
“The response was incredible, with over €6,600 donated so far. It has helped them get somewhere to stay short‑term, and we’re hopeful that with their story going public the council will help get them sorted with a place in the longer term.”
Speaking at a monthly Council meeting this week, Cllr Power told the heart-breaking story to his fellow councillors.
“They chose this location simply because they could access a public toilet,” he explained.
The family had spent their time driving around “trying to keep warm,” the meeting heard.
He went on to explain that the father of the young children worked in Drogheda, “but had no choice but to sleep upright behind a steering wheel,” in his car every night for weeks on end.
Cllr. Power added: “His wife and two children waited in a cold car for eight hours until he finished his eight hour shift.”
“These are people contributing to our community who are trying to do everything right, but they fell through every crack in the system.”
For over a month “no one noticed” the family living in a car, he said.
Cllr. Power said that the family had faced a situation of “bureaucracy against common sense” adding that Louth County Council had told them they weren’t eligible for emergency accommodation because their last residence was within Fingal County Council’s administrative area.
In turn, Fingal County Council had told them that because they had no rent receipts from the property in Lusk, their last known address was actually in Galway, and they wouldn’t be eligible for emergency accommodation in Fingal either.
He said their case was “kicked down the road to Louth” because the father in the family was working in Drogheda, and they had applied for social housing in Louth.
Since when have we allowed homelessness decisions to become postcode dependent?
Cllr. Power criticised the way in which they family had been treated saying that “expecting the family to uproot again and go to Galway is beyond unreasonable.”
“Since when have we allowed homelessness decisions to become postcode dependent? When do we ignore a family sleeping in a car because a map says they belong to a different county.”
Every agency involved “passed this family from pillar to post” said Cllr. Power.
They remain in temporary accommodation, and could face the prospect of returning to live in their car if a solution is not found, he warned.
He asked the council to fast track the family’s housing application, and to link them in with a social worker.
For now, he asked if emergency accommodation could be provided within Louth.
“Let’s do the honourable and compassionate thing and help this family.”
In response, Director of Services, Ger Murphy told the meeting that he was “very sorry” to hear this case had emerged.
Although he wouldn’t refer to the specifics of the family’s experience, he said the council “do have protocols to try to ensure this doesn’t happen.”
He committed to speaking with Cllr. Power after in relation to the case.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme