Irish Water’s PR recruiting drive
Billion euro a year State authority bids to hire another seven staff for its 41-strong comms team (where starter wage is €45k)
IRISH Water is significantly beefing up its army of spin doctors and communications staff as part of its campaign to recruit 700 new staff.
The massive recruitment campaign will boost the number of employees at the national water authority by almost two thirds from three years ago, when it had just over 800 staff. The State agency has recruited another 800 employees since 2021, bringing its total current headcount to 1,678.
Irish Water – which has been rebranded as Uisce Éireann – said it currently employs no fewer than 41 people in its communications and corporate affairs team. And it plans to expand the department with a further seven employees, boosting its dedicated comms team to just under 50 staff.
However, the number of experts advising Uisce Éireann on communications does not include outside consultants paid to provide further advice to the agency. Uisce Éireann has refused to say how much its taxpayer-funded recruitment drive will cost the State. It also would not disclose the salary scale of the communications roles, only saying ‘starter salaries’ will be €45,312.
A spokesperson for the utility told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘This is the largest recruitment announcement made by Uisce Éireann to date and reflects the scope and scale of the activities we are carrying out nationwide.
‘There will be roles available in all counties, including front line operations, science and engineering, administration, communications, management and IT.’
They added of the agency’s communications team: ‘There are currently 41 staff working in communications and corporate affairs in Uisce Éireann, from a total workforce of 1,678 (as of end of January). The team has a diverse mix of responsibilities, providing a range of essential services including public relations, project communications, marketing, internal communications, community and stakeholder engagement, and public affairs.’
Defending the size of its team of spin doctors and communications specialists, they continued: ‘With a capital investment portfolio of €1.2bn, and operational responsibility for providing safe public water to some 1.8 million households and businesses across Ireland, this is a critical function in order to keep our customers and local communities informed about their water services. Central to this is ensuring Uisce Éireann complies with its statutory obligations in relation to informing customers about critical public health and environmental issues affecting them.’
Part of this campaign to inform customers includes spending €800,000 on a film that has only had three nationwide screenings.
‘The Story of Water’ attracted a total of 273,290 viewers after it was shown three times on Virgin Media. It has also been screened in schools since 2021. Uisce Éireann defended the significant spending of public money on the film, saying: ‘The Story of Water was not a promotion film. It was part of a three-year public information campaign launched in 2019 to showcase facts about water, climate change and the provision of public water and wastewater services in Ireland.
‘The campaign originated in a clear need to address a knowledge gap that existed at the time in relaservices tion to the role of public water services and their importance in supporting a thriving economy, and sustainable social and environmental development.
‘The documentary has proved a valuable education resource in raising awareness of the value of water resources to Ireland’s environment, society and environment, and the need to protect and respect these valuable resources.’
The spokesperson confirmed the ‘total cost of making the documentary was €654,000 ex VAT’.
Uisce Éireann launched its massive recruitment campaign as it issued an unprecedented wintertime public appeal urging householders to reduce their water usage. The State body is now 10 years old, but Ireland still wastes more water than any other country in the EU, despite spending €1bn a year on capital projects.
Uisce Éireann admits it will be another six years before Europe’s wettest country no longer holds the record for losing the highest proportion of water supplies to broken pipes.
‘The team has a diverse mix of responsibilities’