The Land of Fairy Stories
I read Minister Ian Pearson's letter with some amusement and notice he begins by talking about myths. He may mistakenly think this is the land of myths and legends. But here he is delving into the land of fairy stories.
The Ministers statement usefully highlights a number of important issues. On a positive note he clearly leaves open the question of how any new water rate might be paid, and interestingly does not rule out the possibility of metering which is something we have been arguing for.
His press release has been very cleverly constructed by his civil servants. But questions still have to be answered for example, why has the water and sewerage infrastructure in North Down if not Northern Ireland been left, some say for 30 years, in such a poor state that raw sewage appears on the coastal path in Bangor West and in areas in Ballyholme when there is heavy rain. Why and only when I brought it to the attention of the Minister John Spellar that raw sewage was being pumped into the sea at Briggs Rock and asked him to come and see for himself - a direct quote from his letter of 8th November 2004 " I do not consider that a sailing trip to Briggs Rock area is necessary to convince me that the present situation is unsatisfactory." He uses the word " unsatisfactory" for filthy, raw sewage pouring onto one of our beaches. Why are the Water Service now having to spend such large amounts upgrading our systems in Northern Ireland, there must be an awful lot of fixing to be carried out. Even the distribution of money to these new schemes appears to be unfair towards North Down, for example to name but 2 out of 14 schemes Armagh is receiving some £40 million, South Belfast £80million and Bangor £510,000, to rub salt into the wound it is planned to be a Public Private Partnership scheme. Such schemes are vulnerable to delays.
The figures he quotes on comparative figures between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK beg a number of questions e.g. comparative levels of need and the balance between rates and central funding. There is also the question of the extent to which the Barnett formula used to allocate exchequer funds to Northern Ireland adequately reflects all of our needs. These are all issues to which must be addressed, to ensure that we have a fair and equitable system.
Once again we have the 'big stick' method from the Minister, if we don't pay a water tax quote "there will be substantial reductions in the funding that could be provided for public services, such as health and education, than we could afford if we had water charges". The argument for reductions in education and health are for another day. But I would state that such thoughts of reduction of finances to health and education must never become a reality.
The Ministers statement usefully highlights a number of important issues. On a positive note he clearly leaves open the question of how any new water rate might be paid, and interestingly does not rule out the possibility of metering which is something we have been arguing for.
His press release has been very cleverly constructed by his civil servants. But questions still have to be answered for example, why has the water and sewerage infrastructure in North Down if not Northern Ireland been left, some say for 30 years, in such a poor state that raw sewage appears on the coastal path in Bangor West and in areas in Ballyholme when there is heavy rain. Why and only when I brought it to the attention of the Minister John Spellar that raw sewage was being pumped into the sea at Briggs Rock and asked him to come and see for himself - a direct quote from his letter of 8th November 2004 " I do not consider that a sailing trip to Briggs Rock area is necessary to convince me that the present situation is unsatisfactory." He uses the word " unsatisfactory" for filthy, raw sewage pouring onto one of our beaches. Why are the Water Service now having to spend such large amounts upgrading our systems in Northern Ireland, there must be an awful lot of fixing to be carried out. Even the distribution of money to these new schemes appears to be unfair towards North Down, for example to name but 2 out of 14 schemes Armagh is receiving some £40 million, South Belfast £80million and Bangor £510,000, to rub salt into the wound it is planned to be a Public Private Partnership scheme. Such schemes are vulnerable to delays.
The figures he quotes on comparative figures between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK beg a number of questions e.g. comparative levels of need and the balance between rates and central funding. There is also the question of the extent to which the Barnett formula used to allocate exchequer funds to Northern Ireland adequately reflects all of our needs. These are all issues to which must be addressed, to ensure that we have a fair and equitable system.
Once again we have the 'big stick' method from the Minister, if we don't pay a water tax quote "there will be substantial reductions in the funding that could be provided for public services, such as health and education, than we could afford if we had water charges". The argument for reductions in education and health are for another day. But I would state that such thoughts of reduction of finances to health and education must never become a reality.
posted by Marion Smith at 6:02 AM
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