John Manley

1 week ago | irishnews.com | John Manley

NI Water has insisted “appropriate and proportionate” action was taken in response to a whistleblower’s fraud allegations. The publicly-owned utility was responding to claims by SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone that a probe carried out by Deloitte on behalf of NI Water overlooked key evidence provided by a whistleblower. The Mid-Ulster representative made the remarks in the assembly on Tuesday. Deloitte was paid £144,000 to investigate the allegations but found no evidence of fraud.

1 week ago | irishnews.com | John Manley

Plans to build a cable car and visitors’ centre on the slopes of Slieve Donard appear to be over after the National Trust said it will not consider leasing land to the council behind the project. The decision comes a matter of weeks after it emerged that relations between the conservation charity and Newry, Mourne and Down Council had effectively broken down. It has been reported that the council has already spent £1.15m on developing the plan, which has faced strong public opposition.

2 weeks ago | irishnews.com | John Manley

Newry, Mourne and Down Council‘s bid to build new £20m headquarters faces being “totally upended” by a potentially botched planning application, according to an elected representative tasked with scrutinising the project. The council’s planning committee were on Wednesday expected to rubber stamp the local authority’s own application for the scheme, to which 2,500 objections were previously lodged.

2 weeks ago | irishnews.com | John Manley

The long-awaited pedestrianisation of a street in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter has been “prioritised” by the Department of Infrastructure but objectors to the proposed scheme are to be consulted before any work goes ahead. The bid to banish vehicles from Hill Street has been under consideration for the past five years since the popular cobbled thoroughfare was pedestrianised for a trial period in 2020 during the Covid pandemic.

2 weeks ago | irishnews.com | John Manley

NI Water and one of the world’s ‘big four’ accountancy firms of have been accused of overlooking key evidence in a fraud investigation. The claim was made in the assembly on Tuesday by SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone, who together with the whistleblower that sparked the probe, met representatives from the publicly-owned utility and Deloitte in March this year. Deloitte was paid £144,000 to investigate the allegations but concluded there was no evidence of fraud.