Irish Construction Firms

Ireland was colonised by Britain for centuries, resulting in an extractive, un-developed economy. Even after independence in 1922, the country suffered from endemic emigration. Half a million people left for Britain in the 1950s – mostly young, single, and alone.

For migrant men, equipped with minimal education but deploying toughness, tenacity and common sense, the construction industry re-building Britain guaranteed work.

By 1960 the industry employed over 200,000 Irish people. Successful sub-contractors soon emerged, including Murphy, Kennedy, Clancy, Carey, Byrne, Gleeson, Fitzpatrick, and McNicholas, among others.

All images courtesy Ultan Cowley

Pat McNicholas left Mayo in the early 1920s, aged 14, to harvest crops for farmers in East Anglia. He progressed to working for British contractors on large civil engineering contracts. In 1949, seeing opportunities where others saw only hardship, he joined his brother Michael to bid for ‘cut-and-cover’ contracts renewing the utilities networks. They eventually formed two successful companies – one concentrating on construction and the other handling civil engineering.

Others followed their example. By 1997, according to Construction News, nine leading Irish companies had turnover figures totalling over £1.3 billion. So much for the myth of the ‘thick Paddy’!

Text by Ultan Cowley, author of The Men who Built Britain: A History of the Irish Navvy