Pay to Uisce Éireann chief surges to over €390,000 for 2026

Gordon Deegan

Uisce Éireann chief executive Niall Gleeson will receive a pay package this year of €391,953, a rise of €118,000 on his pay package for 2025.

The overall package, including pension contributions, is revealed in the 2025 annual report for the State-owned utility, which shows that last year bonus payments for staff increased by 36.5 per cent to €17.84 million.

The report shows that last year, Gleeson received a pay package of €274,000. The increase to €391,953 represents a 43 per cent overall increase.

Gleeson’s pay increase received Ministerial approval on December 18th 2025. A note states a €4,523 increase in his 2025 salary was not paid out until January 2026 following Uisce Éireann approval.

The 2025 annual report shows that the €17.84 million to staff in performance-related pay was a €4.76 million increase from €13.03 million for 2024.

The report discloses that Uisce Éireann made performance-related payments to 3,239 employees for 2025. This followed 2,244 staff receiving bonus payments for 2024.

The payments were approved by the Board of Uisce Éireann in January 2026. The average bonus payment was €5,511 which was down €319 on the average bonus payment of €5,830 for the prior year.

The annual report says that the Uisce Éireann “pay model which is market based and performance related, comprises two elements, namely base pay and a performance related award”.

The report adds: “Performance is assessed against individual objectives and corporate objectives through a balanced scorecard process.”

No bonus payment was made to Uisce Éireann chief executive Niall Gleeson as a result of a Government direction in 2011.

The report also reveals that those earning over €100,000 last year totalled 527, an increase of 25 per cent on the 421 in that earning bracket in 2024.

The detailed figures show that four staff members earned between €250,000 and €275,000; seven between €225,000 and €250,000 and nine between €200,000 and €225,000.

A further 31 earned between €175,000 and €200,000, while 47 earned between €150,000 and €175,000.

Ninety nine staff earned between €125,000 and €150,000 while 330 staff earned between €100,000 and €125,000.

Overall staff short-term costs surged by €69.5 million from €166.9 million to €236.45 million as numbers employed increased by 43 per cent from 2,108 to 3,013.

The 2025 payment to Niall Gleeson of €274,000 made up of €225,000 in basic salary, €27,000 in pension contributions and €22,000 in ‘other short term’ employee costs.

Commenting on Gleeson’s 2026 pay increase earlier this year, Uisce Éireann said pay in the semi-state sector has been “heavily constrained since 2011” and had “fallen below market levels”.

It said Gleeson’s pay “reflects the scale and complexity of Uisce Éireann’s role in delivering critical national water and wastewater services.”

It added that it “recognises the critical leadership role required to meet the challenges of delivering these essential services and the accountability associated with a €122bn, five-year capital infrastructure programme supporting improved performance, housing and growth”.

Last year, pre-tax profits at Uisce Eire increased by 23 per cent to €396.2 million.

Revenues last year increased by 14 per cent from €1.6 billion to €1.83 billion.

The utility’s revenues were made up of €1.24 billion in Government subvention payments for domestic water billing and non-domestic revenues of €332.78 million, while new connection revenues increased by 34 per cent to €262 million.

The utility delivered Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation of €649 million compared to €550 million in 2024.

Chief Financial Officer Chris McCarthy said that Uisce Éireann "delivered a strong financial performance during 2025”.

He said that “the surplus/profit generated by Uisce Éireann, together with necessary Government support in the form of capital contributions of €801m, was invested to fund critical infrastructure projects and enabled the successful delivery of a €1,431m capital investment programme in 2025”.

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 decreased by 19 per cent from €211,000 to €171,000.

The spend was made up of €159,000 on staff hospitality and €12,000 on client hospitality.

The report discloses that Uisce Éireann last year paid out €5.8 million in legal costs comprising settlements of €1.8 million, €3.65 million in legal fees and €379,000 in conciliation and arbitration payments.

The payouts last year concerned 54 legal cases.