Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú has called for scrutiny of spending at Uisce Éireann as figures released to her by Irish Water showed the utility spent almost €9.5m compensating members of the public who have sustained injuries or had property damaged by Irish Water between 2020 and July 2025.

Ní Mhurchú also received figures from Uisce Éireann, under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, that reveal how Irish Water spent €364,422.57 in three years on external public relations consultants, even though Uisce Éireann has their own in-house media and communications team.

‘The same FOI request also reveals that Irish Water spent €103,833.50, exclusive of VAT, in 2024 alone on media monitoring services to monitor what media are saying about Uisce Éireann. Uisce Éireann also spent €25,000 in 2024, exclusive of VAT, on a media distribution software platform to distribute their press releases to a range of media contacts,’ she said.

While she welcomed an investment of €1.4 billion of taxpayer’s money in Uisce Éireann in last week’s budget and said it was a vital part of fixing the housing crisis, she raised concerns on some aspects of their spending and said it ‘sends the wrong message to small businesses who are paying water rates.’

‘The public need confidence that the vast sums of taxpayers’ money the government are investing in Uisce Éireann and other public bodies are not wasted. That means every euro is spent wisely – and hopefully, in this case, on water infrastructure, not on PR, compensation or other expenditure that could be construed as wasteful’.

‘€10m would pay for up to 200 extra gardaí for a year policing our streets. That is how we have to look at this spending. I understand that some level of spending is inevitable on these items but almost €10m of spending that I have uncovered feels like the tip of the iceberg and I would call on Uisce Éireann to respect taxpayers and ensure that every single penny at the utility is spent frugally and wisely,’ she said.