John
12-30-2010, 11:36 AM
The "buck stops" with Northern Ireland Water when it comes to who is to blame for the leaking pipes scandal, a senior Stormont minister has said ahead of emergency talks.
Environment minister Edwin Poots said some 34,000 homes were still without water, describing the problem as "fairly significant".
He said engineers have restored water to 15,000 of the 40,000 homes without water but the thaw meant another 9,000 properties lost their supply.
Mr Poots said there had been a £3 billion investment project in recent years but the problem was a "historic issue". But, he said, Northern Ireland Water and not the Government was to blame.
The minister told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The buck stops with Northern Ireland Water. It's a Government-owned company but it has its own board and the chief executive is beholden to the board so Northern Ireland Water is quite distinct in that it isn't run by the Government but nonetheless is owned by the Government."
He added: "The under-investment that took place was over the period of direct rule. A lot of that was really down to the Troubles, when money was diverted from areas such as water to pay for bombs and security services and so forth. But if you have 30 years of under-investment, you are not going to catch up in four or five."
Mr Poots said the Executive would not be putting up water rates for continued investment to improve the water network. He said: "That will be a matter for the Executive to discuss and come to an agreement on. At this point it is not the intention of the Executive to introduce additional water charges."
An emergency meeting of the Northern Ireland Executive of ministers is being held at Stormont.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and First Minister Peter Robinson have criticised NIW's performance.
Scotland has donated thousands of litres of bottled water as many households have been without water for days. Thawing conditions following the severe cold spell were initially linked to the bursts but now attention is turning to the history of under-investment in the water pipes.
Source - Yahoo.
Environment minister Edwin Poots said some 34,000 homes were still without water, describing the problem as "fairly significant".
He said engineers have restored water to 15,000 of the 40,000 homes without water but the thaw meant another 9,000 properties lost their supply.
Mr Poots said there had been a £3 billion investment project in recent years but the problem was a "historic issue". But, he said, Northern Ireland Water and not the Government was to blame.
The minister told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The buck stops with Northern Ireland Water. It's a Government-owned company but it has its own board and the chief executive is beholden to the board so Northern Ireland Water is quite distinct in that it isn't run by the Government but nonetheless is owned by the Government."
He added: "The under-investment that took place was over the period of direct rule. A lot of that was really down to the Troubles, when money was diverted from areas such as water to pay for bombs and security services and so forth. But if you have 30 years of under-investment, you are not going to catch up in four or five."
Mr Poots said the Executive would not be putting up water rates for continued investment to improve the water network. He said: "That will be a matter for the Executive to discuss and come to an agreement on. At this point it is not the intention of the Executive to introduce additional water charges."
An emergency meeting of the Northern Ireland Executive of ministers is being held at Stormont.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and First Minister Peter Robinson have criticised NIW's performance.
Scotland has donated thousands of litres of bottled water as many households have been without water for days. Thawing conditions following the severe cold spell were initially linked to the bursts but now attention is turning to the history of under-investment in the water pipes.
Source - Yahoo.