THE NUMBER OF staff earning over €100,000 at Uisce Éireann last year surged by 95 or 54% from 176 to 271.

That is according to the utility’s 2022 annual report which shows that operating profits at Uisce Éireann, formerly known as Irish Water, last year increased by 11pc to €252.67 million.

The utility’s 2022 annual report shows that Uisce Éireann recorded the jump in operating profits as the utility’s revenues increased by 10pc from €1.19 billion to €1.3 billion.

The bulk of the utility’s revenues is its annual subvention from government which increased from €893 million to €961 million last year.

The utility’s domestic revenues rose from €198 million to €221.8 million while its connection income increased from €99.6 million to €125.94 million.

The utility recorded earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of €424 million.

A note attached to the accounts states that the increase across the various salary bands is a result of 355 employees transferring from Ervia to Uisce Éireann following the Government announcement that Uisce Éireann should separate from Ervia and become a standalone, publicly owned, regulated utility.

The numbers earning over €175,000 increased from 11 to 28. The numbers earning between €150,000 and €175,000 from 13 to 28.

The numbers earning between €125,000 and €150,000 increased from 28 to 44 and numbers earning between €100,000 to €125,000 increased from 124 to 171.

The pay for the ceo of Uisce Éireann last year increased from €239,000 to €276,000 made up of basic salary rising from €200,000 to €225,000 along with pension contributions of €27,000 and other short term benefits of €24,000.

Uisce Éireann announced the appointment of Niall Gleeson as CEO on 7 January 2022.

In his report, Chief Financial Officer, Chris McCarthy has stated that Uisce Éireann “delivered a strong financial performance during 2022, particularly in the context of the ongoing challenges associated with record level energy costs and general inflationary pressures”.

He said that the surplus/profit generated by Uisce Éireann, together with necessary Government support in capital contributions of €454 million, was invested to fund critical infrastructure projects and enabled the successful delivery of a €1.06 million capital investment programme in 2022.

He said: “This allowed us deliver jobs, increase capacity for housing and development and support economic growth.”

The operating costs of €885 million increased by €76 million when compared to 2021 “and this increase is primarily due to unprecedented increases in global energy prices in late 2022, which resulted in higher contracted service costs for the operation of treatment plants”.

Numbers employed by Irish Water last year increased from 823 to 1,231 and staff costs last year increased from €64.6 million to €100.77 million.

In his report, CEO of Uisce Éireann, Niall Gleeson said: “The safety of the public, our employees, contractors and local authority partners is at the heart of what we do. In January 2023 we were sadly notified of a fatality involving a contractor working on behalf of Uisce Éireann.

He said: “I await the outcome of the investigations into the incident to ensure that any lessons learned are fully actioned.”

Gleeson said that he acknowledges the increase in the number of people on Boil Water Notices at the end of 2022 “and recognise the hardship and inconvenience of living with Boil Water Notices”.

At the end of 2022 there were 13 supplies subject to a boil water notice that had been in place for more than 30 days.

Gleeson said: “Uisce Éireann has a programme of work laid out to improve drinking water quality but it is a dynamic landscape with new issues arising on an ongoing basis.”

The majority of the impacted population were in three locations: Whitegate, Co Cork (9,482 people), Macroom, Co Cork (4,237 people) and Clogh/Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny (3,195 people).

He said that the boil water notice at Macroom was subsequently lifted in February 2023. Significant capital upgrades will be required to address issues at Whitegate and Clogh/Castlecomer fully.

He said that these supplies will come on and off boil water notices, as required to protect public health, until the capital upgrades are complete.