Infrastructure minister Liz Kimmins categorically rules out 'any water charges' a day after finance watchdog indicated they should be considered

Liz Kimmins made the comments at a meeting of the infrastructure committee, adding that such a move would, in any case, have to be approved by the whole Executive.

One day earlier, the NI Fiscal Council had delivered a scathing assessment of Northern Ireland's finances - in particular the reliance on the London government to "bail out" Stormont's budget-busting departments, year after year.

Its chairman Sir Robert Chote said that such "bailouts" mean "the Executive is under less pressure to deal with some of the big choices that confront it" - including the question: "Do we feel the need to raise more revenue, the old favourite, of course, of domestic water charging?"

Speaking in the committee today, Ms Kimmins said the idea of introducing an "infrastructure levy" had been raised with her.

"Any decision to apply an additional levy to rates bills would be a cross-cutting matter to be considered by the executive, and substantive changes would need to be made to rating legislation and the rating administration system in respect of such a change," she said.

"However, for the avoidance of doubt, for me this represents a form of water charging: so I will not be proposing an infrastructure charge is added to household rates, and increasing to the financial burden already faced by people here by imposing any form of water charges."

In 2023, Paul Johnson, a former chair of the Independent Fiscal Commission for Northern Ireland, had told MPs in Westminster that water charges could bring in £350m per year.

Stormont's current projected overspend for this year is close to £460m.

The subject of potholes also came up, and the minister said "recent storms, prolonged rainfall, ice and snow have all taken their toll on the roads, with 49,000 defects being recorded in the last three months alone – which is close to half the total of the previous year".

She added that "the winter recovery road fund which now stands at over £10m will allow vital repairs to the worst-affected areas to be carried out in a focused way and be completed as soon as possible".

She also said that "a full digital road survey" has been commissioned: "Using advanced AI and high-definition imaging, every road will be captured and used to identify and prioritise urgent maintenance to address defects such as potholes".

She later went on to say she was "striving to live within my budget, but also to try and maximise the budget I have" in order to handle things like potholes.