Bonus payments to staff at State-owned utility, Uisce Éireann last year increased by 24% to €13.08m.
That is according to Uisce Éireann’s 2024 annual report which shows that the €13.08m in performance related pay was a €2.5m increase on the performance related payouts of €10.57m for 2023.
The report discloses that Uisce Éireann made performance related payments to 2,244 employees in 2025 in respect of 2024 and this followed 1,631 staff receiving bonus payments for 2023.
The payments were approved by the Board of Uisce Éireann in January 2025 and the average payment was €5,830 which was down €650 on the average bonus payment of €6,480 for the prior year.
The annual report states that the Uisce Éireann pay model “is market based and performance related, comprising two elements, namely base pay and a performance related award”.
The report states that “Performance is assessed against individual objectives and corporate objectives through a balanced scorecard process”.
No bonus payment was made to Uisce Éireann CEO, Niall Gleeson and this is a result of a Government direction in 2011.
The report also reveals that the numbers earning over €100,000 last year totalled 421 which was an increase of 77 or 18% on the 344 in that earning bracket in 2023.
The detailed figures show that four staff members earned between €250,000 and €275,000; five between €225,000 and €250,000 and nine between €200,000 and €225,000.
A further 22 earned between €175,000 and €200,000 while 35 earned between €150,000 and €175,000.
One hundred and two staff earned between €125,000 and €150,000 while 244 staff earned between €100,000 and €125,000.
Overall staff costs increased by €44m to €158m and the report states that payroll costs were higher in 2024 with increased average headcount year on year “as transformation under the framework for future delivery of water services progressed in 2024”.
The average number employed increased by 630 from 1,478 to 2,108.
The payment to Mr Gleeson remained at the same level at €275,000 made up of €225,000 in basic salary, €27,000 in pension contributions and €23,000 in ‘other short term’ employee costs.
Last year, pre-tax profits at Uisce Eireann decreased by 15% to €321m as operating costs rose by 5% from €983.62m to €1.03bn.
Revenues last year increased by 3% from €1.56bn to €1.606bn.
The utility’s revenues were made up of €1.13bn in Government subvention payments for domestic water billing, non domestic revenues of €271.79m while new connection revenues declined by 20% to €195.24m.
The utility delivered Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation of €550m compared to €560m in 2023.
Chief Financial Officer, Chris McCarthy said that Uisce Éireann “delivered a strong financial performance during 2024”.
He said that the profit generated by Uisce Éireann, together with necessary Government support in capital contributions of €572m “was invested to fund critical infrastructure projects and enabled the successful delivery of a €1.372bn capital investment programme in 2024”.
He said: “This allowed us to improve the quality of our water supply, improve our compliance with standards and increase capacity for housing and development to support economic growth.
The utility’s spend on hospitality for staff and clients last year increased by 63.5% rising from €129,000 to €211,000.
The spend was made up of €194,000 on staff hospitality and €17,000 on client hospitality.
The report discloses that Uisce Eireann last year paid out €4.42m in legal costs and comprised settlements of €2.01m, €2.08m in legal fees and €322,000 in conciliation and arbitration payments.
The payouts last year concerned 41 legal cases.
Uisce Eireann’s cash funds at the end of 2024 totalled €345m.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
