Howley Civils is one of the construction industries top and longest serving civil engineering contractors. Established by Gilbert Howley in the 1950’s Howley Civils has been serving the construction industry for over sixty years. Starting from modest beginnings Gilbert Howley was born on a small farm near Straide Co. Mayo. During the war years he worked in an opencast coal mine in South Wales returning to Ireland in the 1950’s.

Gilbert worked initially on land projects, building a formidable reputation for the quality of his work. A visionary, looking to grow the business Gilbert invested in heavy equipment in 1967 with the purchase of a new Cat D9G bulldozer. The early 1970’s saw the addition of Cat 769 dump trucks, large wheel loaders and excavators. This investment and the company’s reputation lead to the awarding of major site works for Merck Sharpe and Dohme in Ballydine and Asahi Synthetic Fibers in Killala. At the time these were the two largest projects of their type in Ireland, Howley Civils has been involved in pharmaceutical industry in Ireland from the very beginning. The late 1970’s saw substantial growth in the business with projects like Aughinish Alumina, Moneypoint and Aghada power stations. The 1980’s saw major road projects undertaken in Monaghan, Cork, Wicklow and Wexford. Another notable project at that time was the Knocknacran Gypsum opencast mine development works with an initial 3.5 million m3 of excavation and all site services.