Are NI Water Fit for Purpose?

[armaghniac]

i can't see how thawing in a few hours rather than a week would make any difference

I think the problem is the freezing of the ground outside the pipe. This changes shape quickly when there is a sudden thaw, breaking the pipe.

[Tony Baloney]

If you can't be bothered to the above article.........

Yet, knowing the risks, the DUP/Sinn Féin-led administration did little to improve the situation.

There was some limited investment in the water system in order to avoid a European Union fine, but overall the emphasis was on economies. NIW has absorbed 300 redundancies in the past year, and was ordered to cut planned investment by about £100m by the regulator.

NIW handed back £21m to Stormont at year end.

Elsewhere in the UK, investment in the water infrastructure was achieved by selling off the water companies and charging rates. Instead of privatising NIW, a government-owned company that cannot borrow money against its assets or float shares like its English equivalents, Murphy wants to nationalise it.

The Northern Ireland executive is committed not to introduce water rates until at least 2014, a crowd pleaser introduced in its first budget. It has now become a shibboleth and is touted as evidence that devolution works. As a result, NIW has to be subsidised from other assembly budgets to the tune of £500m a year. From next year, capital charges of an additional £400m a year can be deducted from the Northern Ireland block grant by the Treasury unless the government agrees to forgo the sum, which seems unlikely.

This is a subject that nobody likes to mention, but it has been brought into sharp focus by the failure of the water system so close to next May's assembly election. The proximity of that election is also why Sinn Féin and the DUP have reacted with a mix of denial and pulpit thumping.

It should have been Murphy walking.

[Doogie Browser]

If this was any other western democracy the Minister would have to resign, there does not seem to be any Ministerial Responsibility (an oxymoron?) at Stormont, have any Ministers resigned from the executive in over 10yrs for a departmental failure?

[Tony Baloney]

If this was any other western democracy the Minister would have to resign, there does not seem to be any Ministerial Responsibility (an oxymoron?) at Stormont, have any Ministers resigned from the executive in over 10yrs for a departmental failure?

Accountability isn't a trait you'll find near Stormont. It's always the fault of someone/something else rather than their own ineptitude.

[johnneycool]

If this was any other western democracy the Minister would have to resign, there does not seem to be any Ministerial Responsibility (an oxymoron?) at Stormont, have any Ministers resigned from the executive in over 10yrs for a departmental failure?

Accountability isn't a trait you'll find near Stormont. It's always the fault of someone/something else rather than their own ineptitude.

How is this man still on the payroll considering what he was up to?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-13750963

[AQMP]

If this was any other western democracy the Minister would have to resign, there does not seem to be any Ministerial Responsibility (an oxymoron?) at Stormont, have any Ministers resigned from the executive in over 10yrs for a departmental failure?

Accountability isn't a trait you'll find near Stormont. It's always the fault of someone/something else rather than their own ineptitude.

How is this man still on the payroll considering what he was up to?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-13750963

Civil servant...almost impossible to sack these days.

[Tony Baloney]

If this was any other western democracy the Minister would have to resign, there does not seem to be any Ministerial Responsibility (an oxymoron?) at Stormont, have any Ministers resigned from the executive in over 10yrs for a departmental failure?

Accountability isn't a trait you'll find near Stormont. It's always the fault of someone/something else rather than their own ineptitude.

How is this man still on the payroll considering what he was up to?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-13750963

Civil servant...almost impossible to sack these days.

I wouldn't be shocked if he has been demoted on the same pay as his previous post.