Bruce Robinson

TORs under which Priestly is to be investigated

| Readers 22

I have no comment to make, other than to note the very narrowness of the Terms of Reference and quote the glorious Yes Minister, wh0se insights pepper this whole story from start to finish: “We dare not allow politicians to establish the principle that senior civil servants can be removed for incompetence. We could lose dozens of our chaps. Hundreds maybe. Even thousands.” TERMS OF REFERENCE Following allegations of irregularities around the awarding of procurement contracts in Northern Ireland Water …

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NI Water: Robinson told Priestly IRT was a bad idea…

| Readers 23

So Paul Priestly is effectively being investigated by his boss, Bruce Robinson. But Slugger understands that when Priestly brought the idea of an Independent Review Team to Robinson, the Head of Northern Ireland Civil Service told him directly that it was a bad idea. So, to repeat something we’ve been asking all through this mess, how can such an investigation be seen to as independent and equitable? Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts …

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NI Water: “As for the minister, he’s not commenting…”

| Readers 45

I see Senator Mary White’s husband Padraic is taking on the role of Chair for NI Water. I hope he has a guarantee that he cannot be sacked for failing to address a problem he’s not been told about until he’s actually under investigation. Okay, back to the main story. There’s a nice piece by Martina Purdy which probably sums up most people’s feeling about this Byzantine tale from NI Water. It’s interesting that she concludes with a note that the Minister …

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