{"id":128361,"date":"2025-10-17T16:19:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T16:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/128361\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T16:19:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T16:19:10","slug":"uisce-eireann-paid-e9-3m-for-personal-injury-damage-claims-over-five-years-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/128361\/","title":{"rendered":"Uisce \u00c9ireann paid \u20ac9.3m for personal injury, damage claims over five years \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

State water company Uisce \u00c9ireann<\/a> paid more than \u20ac9.3 million in compensation for personal injury and damage to property over the last five years, figures show.<\/p>\n

Uisce \u00c9ireann will receive \u20ac1.4 billion extra from the Government to aid in building water supply and treatment needed to support new home building, as part of Budget 2026<\/a> spending.<\/p>\n

The company paid \u20ac9.32 million in compensation for personal injury and damage to properties from 2020 to July this year, details released to Cynthia N\u00ed Mhurch\u00fa<\/a>, Fianna F\u00e1il member of the European Parliament (MEP), under the Freedom of Information Act show.<\/p>\n

Uisce \u00c9ireann also spent \u20ac364,422 on public relations consultants over three years to 2024, despite having its own media and communications staff, according to the same figures.<\/p>\n

Ms N\u00ed Mhurch\u00fa noted that spending in these two areas amounted to almost \u20ac10 million, which she claimed would pay for up to 200 extra garda\u00ed in one year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public need confidence that the vast sums of taxpayers\u2019 money the Government is investing in Uisce \u00c9ireann and other public bodies are not wasted,\u201d said the MEP.<\/p>\n

\"FiannaFianna F\u00e1il’s Cynthia N\u00ed Mhurch\u00fa. Photograph: Alan Betson\/The Irish Times<\/p>\n

However, Uisce \u00c9ireann responded that its compensation bill for the period compares favourably with other public bodies.<\/p>\n

A statement pointed out that it serves more than 80 per cent of the population, has 93,000km of pipes and 8,000-plus assets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe utility manages hundreds of ongoing projects with capital investment of over \u20ac4.5 billion in the period 2020 to 2024,\u201d Uisce \u00c9ireann said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny organisation with this scale and impact of essential activity would expect to see a certain level of legal claims, including personal injury and property compensation.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Raw and untreated sewage flowing into waterways amid delays to upgrade worksOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

All claims are thoroughly investigated and managed to ensure responsible use of public cash, the company stressed.<\/p>\n

Reports in January showed that Dublin\u2019s four local councils, which serve around 1.5 million people, paid \u20ac24 million in compensation between November 2022 and November 2024.<\/p>\n

Uisce \u00c9ireann confirmed that it used external PR agencies on a limited and selective basis, with communications mainly managed by its own staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll spending follows strict procurement rules,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Outside agencies hired by the company included Gibney Communications and a \u201ctri-party service\u201d led by RPS Ltd with Kano Communications and Communique International.<\/p>\n

Ms N\u00ed Mhurch\u00fa maintained that she \u201cwarmly welcomed\u201d the budget decision to earmark \u20ac1.4 billion for the State company.<\/p>\n

She also conceded that some spending on areas such as compensation and PR was inevitable.<\/p>\n

Still, the MEP added that the utility should spend money wisely.<\/p>\n

\"JackJack Chambers, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, announced that Uisce \u00c9ireann would get \u20ac1.4 billion. Photograph: Brian Lawless\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Jack Chambers, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, announced in Budget 2026 earlier this month that Uisce \u00c9ireann would get \u20ac1.4 billion to bolster existing networks and support new housing.<\/p>\n

The company recently highlighted the challenges it faced in providing water supply and treatment services needed to meet Government housing targets.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Industry wants clarity on water, energy projectsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"State water company Uisce \u00c9ireann paid more than \u20ac9.3 million in compensation for personal injury and damage to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[10471,79,29425,18,3428,19,17,26736,446],"class_list":{"0":"post-128361","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-budget","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-cynthia-ni-mhurchu","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-government","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-jack-chambers","16":"tag-uisce-eireann"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}