A history of Murphy Ireland

In 1951, John Murphy, an Irish emigrant, originally from Cahersiveen in Co. Kerry, established J. Murphy & Sons Limited in London.

Initially working on post-war regeneration projects, the focus of J. Murphy & Sons Limited soon switched to the specialist reconstruction of the country’s electrical infrastructure.

In 1968, Bernard Murphy, son of founder John Murphy, founded the Irish branch of the Murphy business, Murphy International Limited.

An integral part of the wider Murphy Group, Murphy’s Irish operations have been headquartered in Newbridge, Co. Kildare for the last 50 years.

Murphy Ireland has built a reputation for quality and excellence, offering industry-leading services in civil engineering, transport infrastructure, piling, tunnelling, structural steel, pipe fabrication and weld testing services, as well as fully integrated turnkey solutions to both the municipal and industrial water sectors, encompassing all aspects of design, construction and operation and maintenance.

But how did we get here?

In the late 1960s and through the 1970s, Murphy Ireland quickly became known for its specialist work in Piling and Pipelines.

This led to several major piling contracts such as that at the AIB Ballsbridge Sweepstake site and Pipelines for four contracts for first season of onshore gas development from Bord Gais Éireann, which included the Inch AGI, Caherlag AGI, Lough Mahon Crossing and the 600 mm Mahon–Marina Pipeline.

Throughout the 1980s, Murphy Ireland continued to grow working on projects across Ireland such as the Mahon-Ringaskiddy Pipeline, BGE Distribution pipelines for Limerick City, BGE Dublin City Pipeline Contracts 1 & 2, Dublin Gas AGI Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, and Poolbeg AGI amongst other contracts.

Tunnelling also expanded, while the 1990s saw increased projects in both the public and private sectors, with Murphy Ireland’s experience and expertise often called upon to provide solutions for a growing number of multinationals in Ireland.

In the early 2000s Murphy Ireland expanded from its traditional piling and pipeline works into more mainstream civils building works, with notable projects such as the upgrade of Punchestown Racecourse.

This work included the entry buildings to the Racecourse, the panoramic restaurant building, stables and events centre.

Increasingly, railway projects also became a focus with a number of projects involving the upgrade of access to stations such as Mallow, Thurles and Portlaoise.

It was through such projects that Murphy Ireland’s Structural Steel work evolved, providing further in-house solutions to meet the needs of key clients.

Today, Murphy Ireland’s Structural Steel department manufactures a broad range of items, including steel bridges for export to support Murphy Group projects throughout the UK, at our steel fabrication facility in Newbridge, Co. Kildare.

From 2010 onwards more civils and public works contracts ensured that Murphy Ireland’s offering continued to grow.

While historically, Murphy Ireland was predominantly a specialist contractor in Ireland involved in Gas, Piling, Industrial Maintenance and Steel Fabrication this evolved even further in 2017 with the acquisition of AECOM’s Irish DBO water business.

Since 2017, Murphy Ireland have secured and delivered a number of major water projects throughout the UK and Ireland.

Murphy Ireland’s 50 years of experience and the reputation that has been built by our teams throughout this time for quality, excellence and direct delivery has resulted in a growing dominance in the civil engineering sector.

Recent projects such as the Ringsend Phosphorous Fixation Project for Irish Water, the Dodder Greenway for South Dublin County Council, the Limerick Gas Works Remediation for Gas Networks Ireland, Huddersfield Energy & Recycling Facility for Yorkshire Water and the Bewsey Bridge for Network Rail in the UK, give just a small sample of the breath of work Murphy Ireland is now engaged in.

Thanks to the above developments, turnover increased, from €50m in 2016 to €138m in 2020.

In 2021 Murphy Ireland was awarded the NSWC Contract by Gas Networks Ireland for Lot 2 – System Operations & Ancillary Services. This contract, along with the Northern Ireland Operate and Maintain contract previously awarded, means that Murphy now cover the maintenance and upgrades on the GNI Gas Transmission Network throughout the island of Ireland.

Today, Murphy Group employs more than 3,500 engineers, professional managers, and skilled operatives around the world.

Murphy Ireland employs approximately 530 People around Ireland and has offices in Grange Hall, Newry, Citywest and Newbridge.

And the inclusive, family ethos behind our values as One Family-One Team-One Murphy is stronger than ever.