Features

Liam Murray Plant – leading the way in the South East for machinery sales, hire, service and repair 

24 Jan , 2024  

From their base in Clonroche, County Wexford, Liam Murray Plant Ltd. provide a comprehensive range of plant and agricultural machinery solutions, including sales, hire, service and repair. With every base covered in a prompt, professional and value-added manner, it’s little wonder a growing range of customers are digging this rapidly-progressing, client-focused one stop shop for all plant and agri needs! 

Set up as recently as June, 2019, Liam Murray Plant Ltd. may be a relative newcomer but the company has made swift progress in a short space of time, adding organically to its service offerings to quickly establish itself as a proven one-stop shop for all plant and agri machinery services across the South East and beyond. 

Eponymous owner Liam Murray has worked with machinery all his life and brings decades of experience and expertise to his customers, from the hire and sale of new and pre-owned excavators, dumpers, teleporters, tree sheers, loaders and breakers to service, maintenance, repairs and GA1 testing of all machinery. 

Liam Murray Plant Ltd. is a main dealer for LiuGong excavators, JAB hydraulic breakers and attachments, WULF attachments, TMK tree shears and Slanetrac dumpers and attachments. 

“I served my time with Noel O’Shea Plant Ltd. and then went to work with Pat O’Donnell,” Liam recalls. “I worked as a fitter in both places and got to know my way around machines. When I spotted an opening to start up my own plant business locally, I decided to go for it and things have gone really well in the first four years or so.” 

The gradual growth and development of the business was natural and unforced, as Liam recounts: “I started off doing repairs and then started to buy and sell the occasional digger. While those diggers were sitting around the yard, I started to hire them out and that’s how we got into self-drive hire. That has become a big part of the business. 

“Today, we have a vast range of machines available for self-drive hire, from a micro digger up to 20 tonnes as well as a range of dumpers up to 9 tonnes and rollers and teleporters.” 

Taking on the LiuGong Utility franchise in October, 2022 was a milestone in the short but impressive history of this fledgling company: “That was massive,” Liam confirms. “It’s still a relatively new product for us and these are exciting times. LiuGong excavators are as good as any brand. They are extremely well built and run on Yanmar engines. We have put them through their paces ourselves and have been very impressed by their performance. 

“They are strong, stable and provide serious digging power. The incredible digging force is probably their main selling point. They are going from strength to strength and they are a company that listens closely to customer feedback and regularly launches new models in response to that. Driver feedback is crucial and, like LiuGong, we always take the preferences of drivers and customers into consideration.” 

Liam has bolstered his hire fleet with the addition of a 2021 LiuGong 9027F compact excavator as a 9-tonne 909ECR. There’s also a 15-tonne LiuGong excavator available for self-drive hire, while the LiuGong Utility range of excavators available for sale goes from 1.7 tonne up to 9 tonne. 

“We’re also selling JAB and WULF excavator attachments – rock breakers, rotating grabs, demolition grabs, whacker and compacting plates. We only started with Slanetrac at the start of September and their dumpers are a good combination along with a 1.7 tonne excavator for small, compact work.” 

Meanwhile, the repair and servicing side of the business is still going strong, with services provided both from the workshop near Enniscorthy and on site nationwide. “We have three vans on the road doing repairs, servicing and warranty work,” says Liam. “John Kehoe, Kevin Delaney and Fergal Pender are the men providing that mobile repair service and their work is invaluable because providing a fast and efficient back-up service to customers is paramount.” 

From humble beginnings as a small plant repair business in County Wexford, Liam Murray Plant has spread its wings significantly and the catchment area covered continues to increase by the month. “We have had machinery in Wexford, Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow and Cork up as far as Tipperary, Wicklow and even Dublin,” says Liam. “We cover all of Leinster and into Munster with sales, while hire and repairs is nationwide. 

“We have good quality stuff and we can stand over all of our machines as we rigorously trialled and tested the LiuGong excavators in our hire fleet before we started selling them – the same with JAB and WULF breakers and the TMK tree shears. 

“We pride ourselves on providing quality machines with an unbeatable back-up service. When a customer rings, we will get to them as quickly as we possibly can and we will look after them. Our lads are very good; they are on the ball when it comes to customer care.” 

As a family business first and foremost, Liam Murray Plant always provides a personal touch. “My mother Kathleen and partner Niamh Whelan work in the office and without them I’d be lost,” the proprietor continues. “My father Martin is also a big help. My mother and father were in this line of work before me and they have a wealth of experience. Dad had machinery before me and that’s what got me started, really.” 

Liam Murray Plant Ltd. has come a long way in a short space of time and a bright future beckons for this outstanding machinery repair, hire, sales and servicing outlet. “We’ll keep going the way we are and continue to provide the best possible products and service,” Liam concludes. “We also carry a selection of parts for all machines and will probably expand that range going forward. But for now we are very happy with the brands we have and the service we’re offering, so hopefully it’s onwards and upwards.” 

Liam Murray Plant Ltd., 

Tomfarney, 

Clonroche, 

Enniscorthy, 

County Wexford 

Tel: 087 240 0002 

Email: [email protected] 

Web: liammurrayplantltd.ie 

First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 11 No 6, December 2023/January 2024