Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy has this month refused to rule water charges in or out. His comments come after the Finance Minister Sammy Wilson conceded the Executive will have to re-examine the controversial issue, which has been floating around the political sea in Northern Ireland for eight years.
Mr Murphy said last April that he wanted a three-year deferral of water charges until 2011, however Mr Wilson has stressed that doing so could cost up to £420 million. In fact he warned in a memo to Executive colleagues that spending cuts of £370 million were needed for the coming year. He commented that the Executive had to decide whether to continue paying for water through existing budgets or look at a different way. "That's a debate that we have to have. To date we have decided - and we've been able to do it - to take it out of existing budgets and we would spend less on something else. All I am saying to Executive colleagues, is if you decide to continue that way this is the amount of money you're going to have to fund from existing budgets. Or if you want to do it some other way let's have a discussion about that and then it will have to go to the Assembly for a final ratification."
Mr Murphy said that while the future funding arrangements for water had not been agreed they require examination. "I want to be clear - no decision has been taken by either myself, Sinn Fein or indeed the Executive to introduce household water charges and no work has commenced on a draft bill in relation to this matter as suggested by some media. This is a collective Executive issue and thus far we have not agreed the future funding arrangements for water and sewerage services. However, this will require examination of service provision and continued investment in the longer term."
