The First Minister of Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill, has today rejected the idea of introducing water charges throughout the province.
In August 2023, a briefing paper presented to the Northern Ireland Secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, put forward a range of revenue-raising proposals including water charges and other options such as increased driving test and MOT charges.
In a bid to get the Democratic Unionist Party to return to Stormont, the UK Government offered a £3.3 billion package for the Northern Ireland Executive.
Michelle O’Neill’s Sinn Fein now have control of both the Finance and Economy ministries in the Northern Ireland Executive – giving them control of NI’s finances.
The First Minister told UTV News that “it was not good enough to ask people to pay more for services that are in decline”.
She continued by saying that the goal was not to burden the public with additional bills but to ensure that HM Treasury got Northern Ireland’s funding model right.
