UISCE ÉIREANN HAS been spending €4,000 on media training for its senior staff before every Oireachtas committee appearance.

The figure was revealed in a response to a question from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which leaders of utility will face today.

Since 2021, Uisce Éireann has made 16 appearances before Oireachtas committees, and has hired Gibney Communication to help them prepare each time.

The total spent on these sessions comes to €65,730, inclusive of VAT.

It works out to an average of €4,108 per committee appearance. 

In notes given to PAC ahead of today’s meeting, Uisce Éireann stressed that it carries out the vast majority of its communications work in-house, but external public relations support is used “selectively for strategic advice” when it comes to media appearances and campaigns.

The Public Accounts Committee seeks to examine Uisce Éireann’s financial statements for 2025, including a €31 million reduction in future revenues imposed by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) following underperformance against targets for reducing water leakage and collecting non-domestic revenue.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, the committee’s cathaoirleach, Wicklow TD John Brady, said the scale of the infrastructure deficit and the demands on the network mean that “effective delivery and strong oversight of public expenditure are essential”.

He took aim at chief executive Niall Gleeson’s €391,953 remuneration package, which was approved by the minister for public expenditure this year. It constitutes a €118,000 pay rise on last year.

Meanwhile, bonus payments across the organisation increased by 36.5% in 2025, reaching €17.84 million.

“In light of this, the committee will also focus on the organisation’s financial performance and progress against regulatory targets,” Brady said.

Gleeson is to tell PAC that there’s increasing pressure on national water services.

“An infrastructure built for a country of 3.5 million people now caters for a population of 5.5 million and rising,” he wrote in his opening statement.

He said, however, that Uisce Éireann has this year completed a number of projects that it believes will strengthen the service.

These include the €139 million Arklow Wastewater Treatment Plant, which will end the discharge of raw sewage into the Avoca River, and a €550 million upgrade to the Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Plant, increasing its capacity by 800,000 people. 

It also reduced leakage to 30% in Dublin and 36% nationally, the lowest levels recorded. The target is to reduce it to 25% by 2030.