Matthews.ie

The Matthews Coach Hire story began in 1995 when Paddy Matthews purchased a second-hand 16-seat minibus (pictured right) which came with a driver and a
number of small runs.

Originally a truck driver, Paddy had been unable to work for six years due to a back problem and the couple needed a vehicle to transport their children and foster children. Eight years on, the Matthews fleet includes 34 coaches which carry 4,500 passengers every day, something which Paddy Matthews said he never expected. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would ever get to this level, he said. I had been a long-distance truck driver, but my back had given out on me and I was on disability, he said. Myself and Mary were fostering children, but the car we had wasn’t really fit to carry them around. The opportunity came up to buy a minibus, so we decided to go for it - we felt we could use the bus ourselves, and set up a little business doing school runs. Soon, local football teams also began to use the service. As we started to get more football runs, we realised we needed a bigger bus, so we bought a 24-seater. “At that stage, there were only three of us in the company – myself and Mary and the man who we’d bought the first bus off. He came with it when we bought it, and he’s still with us today.