Minister on “solo run with enormous financial implications” without Executive approval

What to make of the Northern Ireland Regional Development Minister, Sinn Fein’s Conor Murphy’s, apparent declaration of intent over NI Water? Some would argue that the stated objective, of ‘re-nationalisation’ [within Northern Ireland] of the Water Service NI Water, was the main reason behind the ongoing saga. From the BBC report Finance Minister Sammy Wilson criticised Mr Murphy’s proposals as “expensive and unrealistic”. “Bringing Northern Ireland Water back, and he has admitted this himself, into full public ownership would have revenue consequences, making …

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NI Water: Why open government is more than a slogan for the chattering classes

There’s a very sharply observed piece by Denis Bradley in today’s Irish News, which aside from lauding the work of John Dallat and others on the PAC, an intelligent whistle-blower and some fine words about Slugger, he also let’s slip a few fundamental truths about where the blame lies. And it is not with the politicians: “…it has caught the two governing parties on the hop. They didn’t see it coming. But anyone who has spent a few nights in the …

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NI Water: Minister failed to pick up Board’s early questions about Dixon?

Okay, another bullish performance from Minister Murphy here on the UTV report, though it is rare to see such a normally competent performer stuck for words in front of a camera. What’s complicated things for him was the robust nature of the questioning from Conall McDevitt, on the amount of work the Minister did to come to his conclusion that the Independent Review Team was indeed independent. He reasonably asserts that he cannot be across all the correspondence coming in …

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NI Water: “Recent revelations left us questioning whether we had been misled”

That quotation is from a rather more bullish statement from the NI Consumer Council CEO Antoinette McKeown than we have been accustomed to hearing as of late. The whole statement is posted below (courtesy of Nevin who chased them up on this), but several other things stand out. They pick out the Stakeholder Unit for special attention.  This was the lynchpin for the relationship between the Department and NI Water, but given the immense degree to which people at Board …

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“As far as I’m concerned it’s business as usual.”

Perhaps an unfortunate turn of phrase deployed by the Northern Ireland Regional Development Minister, Sinn Féin’s Conor Murphy, of a department whose Permanent Secretary has just been suspended pending investigation over the NI Water saga – ostensibly for surreptitiously drafting a letter of complaint to the PAC [for a third party]. Meanwhile, UTV’s Jamie Delargy reports that Northern Ireland Electricity has also been guilty of not putting out some contracts to competitive tendering. While the proper process was followed with some of the …

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NI Water: Minister backs his own action in sacking NEDs

Eamonn reports on Twitter this morning that the Minister is unrepentant about his sacking of NI Water’s four Non Executive Directors on the questionable evidence of an Independent Review Team that was demonstrably connected a priori to the Chief Executive of NI Water and which was partly written by his now suspended Permanent Secretary. The Minister adds that the IRT “got to the core of issues.” Okay, so perhaps the Minister might like to answer those questions we posed for him last …

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DUP: We need to establish the truth about the role of the Permanent Secretary

This is a particularly forensic statement from the DUP, which effectively ends what has been (probably by default) a bipartisan line on the NI Water story with Sinn Fein. I’m copying it, less for the political import and more for the nature of the questions it poses. Michelle McIllveen: “This is a deeply serious situation, unprecedented in the Assembly. As Vice-Chairman of the Committee I had already asked for an urgent meeting with the DRD Minister following recent press coverage …

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NI Water: “It was brought to my attention, investigated and I took action.”

As well as revealing his “reservations” about police services, the Northern Ireland Regional Development Minister, Sinn Féin’s Conor Murphy, also gave the Irish News his first recorded comments about the troubled NI Water Board, and his emergency appointees.  Or, rather, his first recorded comments about the questions surrounding the Independent Review Team.  From the Irish News Mr Murphy said he believed people with an “axe to grind” were querying the inquiry. “What I am aware of is there has been a campaign to attack …

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“a kind of conservative, male-dominated organisation”

Northern Ireland Regional Development Minister, Sinn Féin’s Conor Murphy, has clarified his position after telling the Irish News that he would have “reservations” about his teenage son or daughter joining the PSNI because “[He thinks] police services are a kind of conservative, male-dominated organisation”. From the UTV report Mr Murphy told The Frank Mitchell Show he had not wanted to talk about his children and that he had refused to give any personal information on them. But while he said …

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

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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NI Water: DRD kept their ‘demonstrable independence’ hidden from Commissioner

Yesterday’s written answer from the Minister of DRD to Patsy McGlone’s AQW will bring some disquiet, particularly in light of the aribitrary manner by which his department dealt with the last Board at NI Water. What DRD understands by the word ‘independent’ is not something many people in business or the wider world would recognise. But this is DRD world, where ‘independence’ – it seems – is just a state of mind… For example the minister tells us he received an …

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NI Water: Were the IRT’s Terms of Reference ‘Gerrymandered’?

The latest we hear is that DRD/NIW are having problems getting anyone to take on the role of chairman of NI Water. Slugger understands that a number of individuals have declined an approach. It is not difficult to see why. As a careful reading of the final report makes clear the IRT itself did not believe there was a substantive connection between the CEO’s problems with a Board that refused to rescind his resignation and the report’s headline problem of …

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