A two-pronged investigation into Northern Ireland’s burst pipes crisis began today.
The inquiry is examining the response of both government-owned agency Northern Ireland Water, whose chief executive Laurence Mackenzie has already resigned, and the Stormont regional development minister Conor Murphy.
At the height of the emergency more than 40,000 homes and businesses were left without water as thousands of pipes burst after a period of deep freeze over Christmas ended with a rapid thaw Much of the criticism aimed at NIW focused on its failure to communicate adequately with customers, many of whom had no water for two weeks.
The remit of the investigation was agreed by the Stormont Executive after a marathon meeting in Belfast last night.
Ministers announced that two independent experts would examine Mr Murphy's role while the actions of NIW would be explored by the utility regulator Shane Lynch.
The Executive decided to commission the two experts because the regulator's statutory responsibility does not extend to the minister's regional development department.
One will be appointed by Democratic Unionist First Minister Peter Robinson and the other by Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. Their work will be added to the findings of the regulator to form one overall report, which is due to be handed to Mr Robinson and Mr McGuinness at the end of next month.
Mr Robinson said he hoped the investigation would make sure the failings would not be repeated. "I think people have been badly let down by Northern Ireland Water," he said.
"I believe the report will show that people have been let down but let's look at the evidence that we gather during the course of that investigation and let's make sure we use it to ensure this never happens again."
Mr Murphy, who has faced calls to follow Mr MacKenzie's lead in resigning, expressed confidence the probe would find no issue with his performance.
"I am quite confident about my own role in all of this," said the Sinn Féin MLA. "I am actually confident that I probably over-extended my role by going directly to NIW in terms of their response and insisting that they operationally up their game in response to this. But I am quite content for any investigation to look into that and I will respond to it when it reports."
One of Mr Murphy's arch critics, the SDLP's Conall McDevitt, gave a guarded welcome to the fact the minister's role would be examined. But he said he would reserve judgment on the integrity of the probe until the names of the two independent experts were revealed.
After claims Mr MacKenzie may be in line for a major severance pay-off, Mr Murphy has said he wants to ensure the under-fire official received only his minimum contractual entitlement and that the payout amount is made public.
Yesterday, a Stormont committee was told NIW was overwhelmed by more than a million contacts from the public at the height of the crisis. The company received 600,000 phone calls in three days at the height of the episode and was sent 10,000 emails, while its website was bombarded by half a million hits.
The man set to take over as acting chief executive, Trevor Haslett, said NIW was swamped by the events around Christmas and had to deal with unprecedented circumstances.
"On behalf of Northern Ireland Water can I first apologise to all of our customers who were inconvenienced, seriously inconvenienced over a lengthy period," he said. "I don't think anyone at Northern Ireland Water, the board, the executive team, is happy about that."
PA