New money for roads and water

Although Ministers have confirmed that Northern Ireland will have to endure serious rises in its water rates, the news comes with the promise of a huge monetary injection of cash, both directly from the Exchequer and public private partnerships, as well as £400m of local government borrowing. Together with increased investment in the roads infrastructure the injection of cash amounts to £2 billion pounds.

In the absence of local democratic institutions, some local politicians were not happy about the lack of local discussion of such matters.