Debate contribution: NI Water Challenges

Debate contribution by Mr Mark Durkan on 8 April 2024.

MLA

Mr Mark Durkan

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

8 April 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

NI Water Challenges

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4481636

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Let us be realistic: what we do or do not do today in this debate will have no major implications for our immediate future and for generations to come. However, unless the Executive take swift and meaningful action and make sufficient interventions, we will be in big, big trouble. Water infrastructure is a core issue, one that cuts across every facet of daily life. The budget outlook for NI Water is bleak, and infrastructure that dates back to the Victorian era cannot keep step with the demands of a modern society. A legacy of chronic underfunding has resulted in failing infrastructure. As Audit Office reports tell us, it poses serious environmental and economic risks and causing overspill into our lakes and rivers. At present, as we have heard, 19,000 proposed homes are unlikely to be built due to insufficient capacity. People and businesses have lived the consequences of system pressures and battled the devastation wrought by increased incidences of flash flooding, which, sadly, is a trend that is likely to continue as the climate crisis deepens. In 2021, Minister Mallon recognised the imperative for investment across waste water and allowed NI Water to begin the task of addressing storm overflow and to kick off PC21. Yet, since 2023, DFI has signalled a move away from that enabling plan. At Committee, officials said that they were ready to deliver at pace but the massive cuts being imposed were forcing them to make unthinkable decisions. DFI has huge budgetary challenges, as do all Departments, but that is what the Executive signed up to. Across Departments and parties, there was a recognition of NI Water's role and the need to upgrade our infrastructure and move this place forward. However, underinvestment in water long predates these institutions. I concur entirely with Cathal Boylan's point on the impact of Tory austerity, although I agree with Patrick Brown that we cannot lay all of the blame at their door.

I am glad to see DUP recognition of the fact that investment in this area is key to driving economic growth and protecting the environment. That recognition was there in October 2021 when we debated the same issue. It is disappointing that the same party prevented any action by collapsing the Executive just four months later.

During the last mandate — a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle, you will be aware of this — the housing supply strategy was published to great fanfare. It promised to remove barriers to increasing housing, including water and sewerage provision. I am interested to know what engagement there has been and is ongoing with DFC. Without a joint departmental and wider collaborative approach to address the issues, we risk falling even further behind. The Executive must support DFI to deal not only with the historical underinvestment in the water network but with its ability to plan for the short and long term. It is vital that NI Water can utilise multi-year budgets to allow for stronger future planning. As for the options — to come back to today's motion — at the current juncture, DFI should explore all the tools in its arsenal. We cannot oppose the motion just because we know or think that we will oppose some of the options brought forward; let us learn more about them. The SDLP also needs some convincing that mutualisation will not result in further charges for households, which we will never accept. Further hardship cannot be heaped on hard-pressed families who already struggle to make ends meet.

Go raibh maith agat. I thank the Member for her intervention. That, again, goes back to collaboration across Departments rather than the silo approach that we have seen for so long in this place and that has served no one well. It may have served parties well at certain times, but it has never served the public well. We only need to look across the water to see the cost of privatisation not just to people but to standards. The picture is nothing short of medieval, with sewage spilling on to the streets and analysts denouncing 35 years of privatisation as the biggest fraud story in the UK. I welcome the work of fellow Derry man Feargal Sharkey in shining a light on that scandal. The Executive must work with Northern Ireland Water to identify income-generating opportunities such as renewable energy. We should learn from the example of other EU countries and embrace innovative solutions that allow water utilities to save costs and enhance resilience and financial viability. The future of water relies on improved collaboration between NI Water, stakeholders and Governments on both sides of the border, specifically on capital projects in border regions. Investment in our sewerage and waste water infrastructure that meets the needs of present and future generations must be a priority.

798 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:58 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification