NI Water 'Closed Session' As Wilson 'Snipes'

A dispute over a controversial letter has emerged at the heart of a fast building 'scandal' surrounding the suspension of a top NI civil servant.

Today, the Committee for Regional Development held a special meeting in closed session at Stormont with the Chairman, Fred Cobain, noting afterwards that they would be putting questions to the Department of Regional Development (DRD) Minister, Conor Murphy (pictured) in a meeting planned for 1 September.

The move comes at the same time as the NI Finance Minister has been politically 'sniping' at his NI Executive colleague saying that Mr Murphy has questions to answer about his handling of the recent Northern Ireland Water (NIW) controversy.

The DUP's Sammy Wilson said the Minister should clarify his own handling of an independent review that led to the sacking of four NIW directors.

Mr Wilson also raised concerns about whether Paul Priestly, the civil servant who was suspended, was being made into a "scapegoat".

The special meeting was on foot of news that Paul Priestly stepped down as Permanent Secretary of the Department of Regional Development (DRD) and did so after a UTV Live Tonight investigation into the removal of four non-executive directors of Northern Ireland Water.

The directors were effectively 'sacked' by the Minister in March after an independent review found they were culpable for a breakdown in procurement procedures, which meant that £28.5m of contracts was awarded without being correctly tendered.

Mr Priestly was then suspended this week following a phone conversation with DRD Minister Conor Murphy.

It focused on the Permanent Secretary's role in drafting an angry letter sent by Phoenix Gas Chief Executive Peter Dixon to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

That letter - which was later withdrawn - castigated three Assembly members over questions raised about whether the Independent Review Team investigating the failings of Northern Ireland Water - of which Peter Dixon was a member - had been truly independent.

The original UTV programme also uncovered documents which purported to show that Mr Priestly - who jointly commissioned the independent review - was given an early draft of the procurement report and had asked for changes to be made to it.

Those changes are alleged to have directed criticism on procurement matters away from the DRD and onto the NIW directors.

Mr Priestly then gave evidence about the matter to Stormont's PAC spending watchdog, in July.

At that hearing some members of the PAC raised questions about just how independent the review had been. Among other issues, PAC members asked about the relationship between Mr Dixon and NI Water Chief, Laurence MacKenzie.

(BMcC/KMcA)