The plant hire firms of TDs Mattie McGrath and Danny Healy-Rae have each received millions in contracts from Uisce Éireann since the state-owned utility (then called Irish Water) began managing Ireland’s national water infrastructure in 2015.
E&M McGrath Plant Hire, based in Newcastle, Co. Tipperary, and Healy-Rae Plant Hire, based in Kilgarvan, Co. Kerry, received contracts worth €2.2 million and €25.7 million respectively from 2015 to 2024, according to information released under the Freedom of Information Act 2014.
While Deputy McGrath was initially supportive of Irish Water in 2014, urging compliance with water charges in an interview with Tipp FM, he has since become a critic, particularly in regard to persistent water supply issues in South Tipperary. He accused Uisce Éireann of “vandalising” Clonmel’s water supply in February of this year.
Nevertheless, his firm, which is run by his son Edmund, was engaged by Uisce Éireann under a plant hire framework established by the Local Authorities Group and used by all 31 Irish local authorities, as well as Uisce Éireann. The firm has received more than €200,000 per year from Uisce Éireann in each year of its operation except 2016 and 2020.
| 2015 | €225,248 |
| 2016 | €149,106 |
| 2017 | €214,935 |
| 2018 | €202,706 |
| 2019 | €202,430 |
| 2020 | €172,988 |
| 2021 | €269,803 |
| 2022 | €261,339 |
| 2023 | €214,455 |
| 2024 | €292,879 |
Healy-Rae Plant Hire was engaged under Uisce Éireann’s national Repair and Maintenance Framework, and has received more than €2 million per year since 2018, peaking at over €5 million in 2023.
| 2015 | €306,185 |
| 2016 | €494,665 |
| 2017 | €1,435,263 |
| 2018 | €2,651,645 |
| 2019 | €2,719,472 |
| 2020 | €2,091,596 |
| 2021 | €4,697,300 |
| 2022 | €3,520,405 |
| 2023 | €5,150,671 |
| 2024 | €2,674,234 |
Deputy Healy-Rae was a director of the firm throughout his first seven years as a TD, but gradually transfered ownership to his sons from November 2023 to March 2024.
He received significant criticism in 2016 for contracting with Irish Water after campaigning against it as a councillor, which his brother and fellow TD Michael defended at the time as a continuation of prior contracts with Kerry County Council.
However, while Deputy McGrath’s firm was engaged under such contracts, Deputy Healy-Rae’s firm contracted directly with Uisce Éireann.
In its decision on the FOI request, Uisce Éireann stated that “the process Irish Water uses in acquiring goods and services at competitive prices meets all best practice standards as regards to public sector tendering”.
Left in the Lurch 