NI Water – Slugger O'Toole

Water rates or hosepipe ban: why NI Water funding model needs to change…

Mick Fealty on July 21, 2021, 5:28 pm

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I was on Nolan to discuss a hosepipe ban that’s imminent. In England Severn Trent has asked people to conserve water, but there’s no ban. Water services in England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic have been investing massively in their systems. That’s not only brought leaks down within the system but allows them to keep up with ever rising demand as populations grow across these islands and demands shift up and down with the seasons. Meanwhile NI Water (as it …

We can’t keep putting off investing in NI Water…

Brian O'Neill on July 20, 2021, 9:52 am

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As you might have noticed it has been pretty hot the past few weeks. All this heat is not great for our water supplies and NI Water have warned that of supply shortages and a potential hosepipe ban. This happens most years, but it is a good reminder that we take water for granted. NI Water has been warning for years that we need to invest in our water infrastructure. There is the obvious part of the service – the …

Soapbox: If you go down to the woods today… you’re in for a very big surprise

Soapbox on April 5, 2016, 9:05 am

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James Orr is director of Friends of the Earth in Northern Ireland. In his account of what’s been happening in an East Antrim wood belonging to Northern Ireland Water, he argues that recent planning reforms have led to a water company getting involved in oil exploration on its own land. Woodburn, near Carrickfergus. The clue is in the name. In this local haven, there is a wood growing and a burn flowing. Woodburn is designated in the local plan as a …

Why is ‘Toxic’ Irish Water between 13% – 26% cheaper than ‘non toxic’ NI Water…?

Populist Watch Irl on January 29, 2016, 12:29 pm

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IS CHARGING BETTER: Last week Sinn Fein described Irish Water as a toxic entity. If it is toxic then how would one describe Northern Ireland Water [which they are in large part responsible for] costs somewhere between 13% – 27% more depending on which metric you apply.

Northern Ireland Water charges to rise…

Pete Baker on April 1, 2015, 12:44 am

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As the BBC reported on 27 March Northern Ireland Water is putting up charges to its 80,000 non-domestic customers from April – the first price rise in three years. The company said the increase would average out at 2.4%. The main factor “dictating this increase” is a £14m rise, or doubling, of its rates bill, following a revaluation carried out of all local businesses last year. In the previous two financial years, Northern Ireland Water cut its tariffs. Businesses and …

Sinn Fein protest water meters in Dundalk, but have ensured they are installed in Newry?

Mick Fealty on November 27, 2014, 7:42 pm

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So, Sinn Fein didn’t order the continuation of the installation of 35,000 water meters in new build houses in Northern Ireland at a cost of £13.3 million? Well, no. The minister’s department did refuse to allow NI Water off the hook of putting water meters as it was required to do by law. Brian Stanley put it thus… Sinn Féin can only do what it can do at any point in time being in the power-sharing executive, and that situation …

“what you would have paid if it wasn’t for the fact that water charges had been cancelled.”

Mick Fealty on October 8, 2014, 3:35 pm

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This rough recording is from RTE’s Late Debate programme from last Tuesday. In it Deputy Pearse Doherty outlines how he thinks water is not charged for in Northern Ireland. “They actually get a notice every year which says this is the amount you would have paid if it wasn’t for the fact that water charges had been cancelled.” Except that the ‘notice’ Pearse mentions is in fact the local rate bill which informs householders in Northern Ireland which part of …

Come on BBC NI give us the bad news on our beaches…?

Mick Fealty on April 15, 2014, 9:37 am

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So, here’s what the listeners to Radio 4 got this morning on the new Good Beach guide report, picking out Northern Ireland as a noteable weak point in the overall UK figures… .@mickfealty – @BBCr4today puts NI beach water quality stats in context wholly, sadly missing from @BBCNewsNI report pic.twitter.com/cW7nCFcSMR — Patrick Corrigan (@PatrickCorrigan) April 15, 2014 Then this from BBC NI… Northern Ireland beaches’ water quality ‘acceptable’… Clearly good news elsewhere has meant lots of detail on a general …

G4S: Government’s ideological commitment to using the private sector not matched by proper resources

Mick Fealty on July 12, 2013, 4:42 pm

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Well, first of all Northern Ireland Water have a problem tracking contracts with the private sector. Then the Housing Executive. In the midst of all the rest Northern Irish Primary schools have been let off compulsory testing because a £3 million contract failed to deliver a functionable product. Now it turns out that the UK Department of Justice has been massively overcharged for the services of G4S… Chris Grayling has brought the Serious Fraud Office in to investigate (which is …

DRD settles for #NIWater with an apology to Declan Gormley…

Mick Fealty on February 21, 2013, 6:19 pm

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So, we are nearing the end of the story of one of the sacked directors of Northern Ireland Water, Declan Gormley. The implications of this are pretty unequivocal. But before further detailed comment over to the Minister, who stated this afternoon that… …in March 2010 some of the non-executive directors of Northern Ireland Water Limited, including Mr. Declan Gormley were dismissed from the board of that company by the then Minister for Regional Development, Mr Conor Murphy. The Department was …

Sinn Fein’s defence borrowing a page from the Scientology play book?

Mick Fealty on December 18, 2012, 2:15 pm

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I’d treat with caution any attempt to estimate the Sinn Fein’s costs, not least because they don’t seem to have gone in to the trial with anything much resembling a case. In disclosure, they offered only copies of the press releases, with one defendant confessing he was a inveterate re-cycler. And as Sam McBride notes in the News Letter today: Amid a series of disputes about the conduct of the protracted trial — which was listed to last five days …

Is Sinn Fein really planning to appeal its libel case or just stalling on the pay out?

Mick Fealty on December 18, 2012, 11:51 am

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One of the privileges of having access to lots of money is that you can safely set aside all legal good sense and go for broke. The problem with the idea that the party might appeal a jury verdict from a jury they insisted on having against the judge’s better counsel is that it will likely have the judge confirm the first outcome. So, are they just stalling? Having strung Mr Gormley along thus far (including putting him in the …

Why did Sinn Fein feel compelled to invent ‘malicious’ untruths about Declan Gormley?

Mick Fealty on December 17, 2012, 11:43 am

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This morning in the High Court, both Sinn Fein’s and Declan Gormley’s counsels will be making their cases on the figure in damages to be reached by the jury in Sinn Fein malicious libel trial. We should have a figure to run with by lunchtime. As Tom Kelly – rather prophetically – warned back in 2007 (long before Mr Gormley had even been appointed been appointed to Northern Ireland Water), Martin McGuinness’s promise to put manners on Civil Servants, was …

Sinn Fein defamation of Declan Gormley, and what comes next

Mick Fealty on December 14, 2012, 5:38 pm

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So the news from the Belfast High Court is that a jury has found Sinn Fein guilty of defaming of Declan Gormley, one of four non executive directors of Northern Ireland Water sacked by Sinn Fein’s former DRD minster and Westminster MP, Conor Murphy. The trial took an extraordinary 10 days in court. Ten days in which Mr Gormley, the plaintiff spent an equally extraordinary five days in the witness stand being questioned by Sinn Fein’s counsel. The party’s defence …

Gormley wins libel case against Sinn Fein

Pete Baker on December 14, 2012, 5:31 pm

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The BBC reports the jury verdict in Declan Gormley’s, a former non-executive director of NI Water, libel case against Sinn Féin, the party’s Newry and Armagh MLA Cathal Boylan, and former assembly member Willie Clarke. From the BBC report Declan Gormley sued the party over the contents of two press releases it issued in 2011 in support of his sacking from the NIW Board. The party denied the press releases were defamatory, but the jury found the party had acted with malice. High …

UTV DVD “will not satisfy the request for particulars”…

Mick Fealty on November 23, 2012, 4:27 pm

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Sam McBride has had some interesting reports to file on the Declan Gormley hearing. This from yesterday’s proceedings is more bizarre than the last one. What’s at play here is that Gormley’s lawyers are trying to get Sinn Fein’s lawyer’s to specify what evidence they have that Gormley ‘attacked’ their two MLAs… Well worth reading the whole thing.. As Mr Justice Gillen told Mr McCann to be more specific about the alleged attacks by Mr Gormley to which he was …

Sinn Féin MLAs to claim ‘qualified privilege’ for press statements in NI Water libel case?

Pete Baker on November 16, 2012, 4:53 pm

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The BBC reports from Belfast High Court as, former non-executive director in NI Water, Declan Gormley’s libel proceedings against Sinn Féin, the party’s Newry and Armagh MLA Cathal Boylan, and former assembly member Willie Clarke, heads to its court date – 26 November. Apparently, no political party members nor NI Water employees, members and staff on the Stormont Public Accounts Committee are to be allowed to sit on the jury. And, also from the BBC report At a review hearing on …

“the tribunal finds the minister’s evidence is implausible and lacks credibility” [Updated]

Pete Baker on June 20, 2012, 7:40 pm

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If you thought the controversy around NI Water and the then NI Regional Development Minister, Conor Murphy, MP, MLA, had gone away, think again. The BBC reports that an industrial tribunal has found that Alan Lennon, a Protestant overlooked for the post of chairman of NI Water in March 2011, was discriminated against on religious grounds. From the BBC report In March 2011, Mr Murphy appointed a Catholic as chairman, Sean Hogan, ahead of four others shortlisted after interview, all …

Ministerial U-turn on NI Water Chief Executive’s terms

Pete Baker on November 23, 2011, 2:23 pm

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After his very well publicised threat to resign, the acting Chief Executive at Northern Ireland Water, Trevor Haslett, appears to have got what he wanted – a £20,000 pay rise [and a two year contract? – Ed]. From the BBC report A spokeswoman for the Department for Regional Development confirmed the deal. “Northern Ireland Water needs leadership and stability,” she said. “Trevor Haslett has demonstrated that he is the best person to lead NI Water through the winter that is almost …

NI Water: Another Chief Executive resignation?

Pete Baker on November 2, 2011, 3:41 pm

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The BBC’s Jim Fitzpatrick reports that NI Water Chief Executive, Trevor Haslett, has “signalled that he wants to leave and return to private consultancy”. Haslett has been in the post for almost 10 months, after stepping into the vacancy caused by the defenestration of former Chief Executive Lawrence MacKenzie. From the BBC report NI Water was created as a state-owned company in 2004 with Ms Bryan at the helm and its structure suggested that it would ultimately be privatised. But the devolved government …