RENEWED CALLS came yesterday for the resignation of Sinn Féin Minister for Regional Development Conor Murphy in the wake of the crisis that forced Northern Ireland Water chief executive Laurence MacKenzie to resign.
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) has tabled a motion of no confidence in Mr Murphy, who was yesterday seeking legal and official advice on whether to approve a payoff for Mr MacKenzie that is understood to be under £100,000 (€119,000).
Stormont Assembly members learned of the true extent of the burst pipes water crisis that affected 40,000 householders in Northern Ireland over the Christmas holiday period.
Senior Northern Ireland Water officials admitted to the Assembly’s regional development committee that it was unable to cope with the huge public demand for information about the supply shortages.
It was overwhelmed by more than a million queries from the public at the height of the crisis, officials – including its new acting chief executive Trevor Haslett – told the committee.
The company received 600,000 phone calls in three days and was sent 10,000 e-mails, while its website took half a million hits.
The officials apologised for the company’s mishandling of the crisis. NI Water’s director of customer services, Liam Mulholland, told the committee that the extent of the problem had taken them by surprise and that its handling of the “unprecedented” problem was “shambolic”.
UUP chairman of the committee, Fred Cobain, criticised Mr MacKenzie for not coming before the committee yesterday.
“He should have been here. This is a huge issue, not just for this committee and the Assembly, but for the thousands of people who have suffered. He has a responsibility to those people,” he said.
Mr MacKenzie’s resignation was announced after midnight on Thursday morning after a nine-hour meeting of the board of NI Water.
The resignation comes into effect at midnight tonight. Mr Mackenzie’s position – he was on a salary of £182,000 – became untenable because of the crisis.
It is up to Mr Murphy to decide whether to approve his severance package. Mr Murphy said he “understood” that any payoff would be less than £100,000.
In arriving at a decision the Minister said he would want assurances that Mr MacKenzie would be available to an investigation that he has ordered into the crisis.
After Mr MacKenzie’s decision, which he said he took “on his own initiative”, the focus turned to Mr Murphy’s role in the disaster.
A number of UUP Assembly members, including party leader Tom Elliott and Mr Cobain, said that Mr Murphy should resign, while DUP MP Gregory Campbell also said the Minister must stand down.
UUP MLA George Savage has put down a motion of no confidence in Mr Murphy which he hopes to have debated in the Assembly on January 17th.
Under Assembly rules Sinn Féin has a veto that would prevent such a successful motion having effect, even if all but Sinn Féin members supported the motion.
Mr Murphy said he was satisfied he had honoured his responsibilities and would conform with any findings of the inquiry into the crisis that is to be conducted by the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation.
