FDA rejects claims civil service to blame for delays to Northern Ireland infrastructure projects

The FDA’s National Officer for Northern Ireland Robert Murtagh has spoken out against claims that the Northern Ireland Civil Service are to blame for the failure of major infrastructure projects to be completed on time.

This criticism followed a series of delays to major projects, most recently including the Belfast maternity hospital, as well as the city’s York Street Interchange and Casement Park stadium, among others.

Appearing on UTV’s ‘View from Stormont’ programme, Murtagh said:

“We need to look beyond the civil service. The fact of the matter is we elect politicians to do a job and every four years we go to the polls, we elect them, they are the ones who are accountable for overseeing these projects and developing them.”

Murtagh continued:

“Critically, for five out of the last eight years we haven’t had ministers in place. So it’s important we recognise that there are wider issues here and that it can’t just be the civil service who takes the blame.”

Murtagh’s comments on these issues follow similar criticism of the civil servants over the past few months. In April the FDA issued a response to a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on Major Capital Projects, which have seen an overspend of more than £3 billion. Murtagh said:

“It’s obviously right for the PAC to review why this has happened and our members will welcome steps to prevent this kind of overspend in the future. The NICS has already undertaken a review of the root causes for delays and cost overruns and implemented recommendations from previous reports from the NIAO and PAC on major capital projects.

“However, this isn’t something the civil service can address on its own – it requires political leadership. When the Committee speaks about a need to review leadership, it’s unfair to point the finger solely a civil servants. It is ministers who are elected by the public to deliver on these projects and they need to take responsibility.”

The National Officer also appeared on BBC Radio Ulster in February to rebut claims that the civil service was to blame for a then projected £2.45 billion overspend. At the time Murtagh said:

“It is ministers who are elected by the public to deliver on these projects. So I think there’s a wide range of systemic issues here… I think that it is a disservice to look at the root causes of this overspend and not to think about the political instability, the near permanent crisis that has defined our politics for the last eight years.”