Peter Weir MLA | press releases

Statement

Murphy should follow Wilson’s lead on NI Water Bonuses

Posted on: August 11, 2009

Cllr Weir at Stormont

DUP Assembly Member for North Down and Vice Chairman of the Assembly Finance and Personnel Committee, Peter Weir has called upon DRD Minister Conor Murphy to follow the lead of Sammy Wilson by stopping bonuses being paid to senior officials in NI Water. Mr. Weir said his call formed part of the DUP’s cross-cutting agenda of efficiency throughout the entire government of Northern Ireland. The North Down MLA speaking today:

“When people look on at bonuses being suggested for senior officials in government bodies like NI Water they are amazed. NI Water has been plagued with allegations of incompetence and mismanagement, the public is right to ask: “just what has been done to earn these bonuses?” A bonus implies that someone has exceeded their targets, however that cannot be said of NI Water, with scores of developers waiting several months for a connection to the water network and with businesses being under and over charged for their water.

Conor Murphy is the Minister with responsibility for NI Water. The time has come for him to follow Sammy Wilson’s lead and end bonuses going to those who presided over the problems that body has encountered.

The DUP is the party of small and efficient government. We believe that taxpayers’ money should be used in the most cost-effective way. That is why the party has proposed reducing the number of Assembly members, cutting back on the number of government departments and scaling back the proliferation of quangos that presently exist. We believe in money being diverted from bureaucracy and red-tape and into frontline service delivery like schools, hospitals, roads, housing and education.

One area that we recognised required attention is the issue of bonuses being paid to civil servants. In the current economic climate people find bonuses being paid to private sector employees like bankers unacceptable on the grounds that a percentage of the bonus comes from public money. What then must the public think about bonuses paid to civil servants, the entirety of which comes from public money? Such a situation is unsustainable and I am pleased that Sammy Wilson has initiated action in DFP by freezing bonuses paid to senior civil servants”, said the DUP MLA.