‘Forensic audit’ announced for Northern Ireland’s water body

Stormont Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins said she is concerned about a number of ongoing issues at NI Water.

In an urgent written statement to the Assembly on Friday morning, Ms Kimmins said the probe will examine whether NI Water’s systems and processes are robust, effective and fit for purpose.

“Regrettably, there are a number of issues which are ongoing in NI Water, some of which have been the subject of NI Water investigations and have already resulted in the need for action plans,” she said.

“The scale, volume and severity of these concerns combined with the time it has taken NI Water to conduct the required investigations, alongside other matters of compliance, have led me to conclude that this work is necessary to provide appropriate assurance that NI Water’s systems and processes are robust, effective and fit for purpose.”

She went on: “It is incumbent on me as minister to satisfy myself that the internal checks and balances of the organisation are functioning as they should.

“The department allocates over half a billion pounds of taxpayers’ money to NI Water annually.

“Therefore, it is crucial that I am assured that there is accountability to the Department, the Assembly, the NI Water Board, wider stakeholders and the public.”

She added that the terms of reference for the probe are currently being finalised.

SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone described the move as “long overdue”.

“Serious questions have been raised about how NI Water is being run, how public money is being managed and the accountability that exists within the organisation,” he said.

“I have raised many of these issues directly with the Department and it is clear there is a huge job of work to be done internally at NI Water.

“I’m glad the Minister has finally acknowledged the scale, volume and severity of the concerns that exist. We need to know how these issues were allowed to develop and why it has taken so long to address them.”

He added: “This audit is a step in the right direction, but the terms of reference will be hugely important.

“We cannot have a toothless tiger investigation that skirts around difficult questions. It must follow the evidence and establish accountability where things have gone wrong.”