Debate contribution: NI Water: Funding and Governance
Debate contribution by Mr Cathal Boylan on .
- MLA
- Mr Cathal Boylan
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 29 April 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Opposition Business
- Heading
- NI Water: Funding and Governance
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4922327
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-Leas-Cheann Comhairle.
I also welcome the motion's being brought to the Assembly, as it is a very important issue that deserves our focus. Debates such as these are also an opportunity for Members and parties to set out their stall on their plans and vision for NIW. The position of Sinn Féin should by now be clear for all to see, and our amendment reinforces that position. We are not supportive of changes to the funding model for NIW that would lead to mutualisation or privatisation. Those approaches, as taken by Thames Water and Welsh Water, have been a disaster. Those approaches would also lead to domestic water charges being placed on already hard-pressed families across the North. That is unacceptable. I ask Members to support our amendment and recognise the ongoing work by the Minister in carrying out the forensic audit of NIW's 2024-25 accounts. That is evidence that the Minister is serious about supporting NIW to deliver on improving and maintaining our waste water network as best she can. Therefore, it will be a better use of the Minister's finite resources in the Department to continue with the three-pronged approach that she has continually set out: to seek additional funding for NIW from the Executive; to consult on developer contributions; and to legislate to promote the use of sustainable drainage systems. I ask Members to support Sinn Féin's amendment.
236 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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