NIW watchdog turns up heat on Murphy
THE Consumer Council may have been misled by key players in the Northern Ireland Water affair, it has said following a candid meeting with Conor Murphy.
The watchdog, which is charged with policing aspects of NI Water's business on behalf of consumers, has until now said little about the unfolding revelations about what is now known to have been going on within NI Water and the Department of Regional Development (DRD).
However, it has demanded answers of the regional development minister, Conor Murphy, after a meeting on Wednesday between the Sinn Fein minister and the body's chairman, Rick Hill, and chief executive, Antoinette McKeown.
Among a series of questions put to the minister during a frank meeting, it asked why information about the affair was "purposefully withheld from the Consumer Council in direct breach of the partnership agreement" between the DRD, NI Water and the Consumer Council.
It questioned whether Mr Murphy's decision to sack all NI Water's non-executive directors with the exception of banker Don Price was as a result of a "power struggle" at the organisation.
Yesterday Stormont's Public Accounts Committee met in closed session to discuss its NI Water investigation.
The Consumer Council heaped further pressure on Mr Murphy by asking why the DRD 'Shareholder Unit' – which is headed by senior civil servant Gary Fair and oversaw NI Water on behalf of the public – had failed to spot any of the problems which Mr Murphy now says meant that the non-executive directors had to be dismissed.
Leaked e-mails obtained by the News Letter reveal that after the Independent Review Team delivered its draft report on NI Water in February, DRD permanent secretary Paul Priestly e-mailed Mr Fair to tell of his dissatisfaction with the report.
The first draft copy of the review team's report appeared to suggest that many of the procurement problems at NI Water could be traced back to it being both a government-owned company and a non-departmental public body.
The Consumer Council asked whether that "confused, hybrid status" of the publicly-owned utility had contributed to its problems.
And it pressed the minister both on what his intentions are for NI Water and whether there will be sufficient "independent challenge on behalf of consumers".
Following the appointment of five temporary non-executive directors – one of whom is a former Sinn Fein councillor – without a public advertisement, the body asked what criteria Mr Murphy planned to use for the appointment of permanent board members.
Ms McKeown said: "We have always supported the action of bringing to light a situation where contracts were being issued without going out to competitive tender.
"However, recent revelations left us questioning whether we had been misled."
Last week the News Letter revealed an e-mail exchange between January and March involving Ms McKeown and NI Water boss Laurence MacKenzie in which the watchdog boss suggested that they jointly "prepare for any media interest" after the independent report into NI Water was finished.
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