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Gallgher: Murphy must brief committee on water sackings

SDLP Regional Development spokesperson Tommy Gallagher MLA said Minister Conor Murphy should brief the Assembly Regional Development Committee at the earliest opportunity on his sacking of four members of the NI Water board.

Fri 12th March

He said: “Member of the Committee will have been aware for some time that all was not well in the water service and that a major inquiry was under way. Certainly, I have been approached by members of the public concerned about the way contracts were being awarded. We need to have hard information on the nature and extent of the problems and their wider significance.

 

“It immediately raises the whole issue of governance in government-owned companies of which NI Water was the prime example. The Go-Co model was developed under Direct Rule at a time when privatisation was very much on the agenda. We in the SDLP had deep reservations, not only because we totally opposed water privatisation. It was also unclear how it could be reconciled with proper ministerial accountability to the Assembly, and these events put that problem right back on the table.”

ENDS

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