Murphy is from Mayfield, Cork. After attending Christian Brothers College, he studied economics at University College Cork from 1988, but failed his final exams; he finally graduated in 2015 after completing the necessary modules remotely. He started several catering businesses, the first while still in college; these prospered until the 2008 recession, when they folded, leaving him with tax debts which were settled in subsequent years.
Political career
Murphy was appointed to the National Economic and Social Council by the then TaoiseachJohn Bruton in October 1996, serving until the end of 1997. He was elected to Cork City Council in 2004 and 2009, serving as Deputy Lord Mayor from 2005 to 2006 and Lord Mayor from 2009 to 2010. He also served as the first Chair of the Cork Joint Policing Committee. In accordance with dual mandate restrictions, he vacated his council seat in 2011 after winning election to the Dáil. On 15 July 2014, Murphy was appointed as Minister of State with responsibility for data protection and European Affairs and at the Departments of the Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs and Trade respectively. He was dropped from the position by Leo Varadkar when he became Taoiseach in June 2017. In October 2017, Murphy was appointed Campaign Director for the European People's Party in the 2019 European Parliament election. In May 2018, Murphy announced that he intended to retire from Dáil Éireann at the next general election. In November 2019, Murphy revealed that he was resigning as a TD at the end of 2019 to take up a senior position in the European Commission. However, this was overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the expenses scandal, which saw him collect his Dáil Éireann expenses. From October 2017, Murphy was mainly based in Brussels where he worked with the European People's Party. During this period he drew his full Dáil salary of €94,500 and his full parliamentary standard allowances of €51,600 each year. Murphy had the lowest attendance rate in the Dáil on sitting days by a considerable margin during 2018 and 2019; attending on 42 days out of 104 in 2018, and 24 out of 70 until the end of September 2019. He resigned as a TD on 3 December 2019, which was announced in the Dáil the following day.
