Murphy seeks to regain full control of NI Water
CONOR Murphy has given a strong indication that he wishes to regain full control over Northern Ireland Water.
Under intense scrutiny for the role he and his officials played in the crisis at the water utility, Mr Murphy gave clear indications that he wishes to see the arms-length body brought back fully under his department's control.
In a move which would likely spark a fierce tussle with DUP finance minister Sammy Wilson, Mr Murphy used a two-hour evidence session at the regional development committee to raise the issue.
THE STORY SO FAR
The two Sinn Fein representatives on the committee also said that they would like to see NI Water back within the department.
Under robust questioning from two MLAs – the SDLP's Conal McDevitt and the DUP's Michelle McIlveen – about wider aspects of the NI Water affair, Mr Murphy said:
• He had no knowledge of the changes requested by his then top official, Paul Priestly, to the Independent Review Team's initial draft of their report which eventually led to the directors' sacking;
• Permanent NI Water non-executive directors will not be appointed until it is decided whether the utility is coming back fully under the department's control;
• He was unaware of UTV's revelation that NI Water chief executive Laurence MacKenzie sent an e-mail on January 19 entitled "done deal" to Peter Dixon, who within days was appointed to the Independent Review Team, saying: "expect a call!"
• Two of the review team – Mr Dixon and Deloitte consultant Jackie Henry – assured him at a private meeting that their report was entirely independent
Ms McIlveen said she thought it "incredible" that given the "enormity and consequences" of the report, Mr Murphy had no knowledge or sight of it, despite the draft report being with the department. Mr Murphy said that was "not abnormal".
The assembly's Public Accounts Committee will today resume its investigation into the NI Water affair. It is understood that very significant new evidence has been given to the committee in recent days.
Mr Murphy said: “I do think it has been quite clear that the Goco (government-owned company) idea has not served us well, has left us in a hybrid situation which I don’t think is acceptable going forward.”
The under-pressure minister said that his officials were investigating how legislation could be passed to change NI Water’s status, something which would require executive approval.
There have been a series of damaging leaks which raise questions about whether Mr Murphy was in control of his own department and at yesterday’s hearing the Sinn Fein minister repeatedly attacked “sections of the media” for focusing on how and why all but one of NI Water’s non-executive directors were sacked.
Mr Murphy said that nothing which had emerged in recent weeks undermined the credibility of his decision to blame all but one of NI Water’s non-executive directors for the utility’s problems.
During terse exchanges between Mr McDevitt and Mr Murphy, the minister said that he had not watched the UTV expose about key aspects of the affair.
Mr McDevitt said: “Do you not think you might want to watch the programme?”
Mr Murphy responded: “Well, the UTV programme isn’t the only bit of work on this.”
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Monday 13 February 2012
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