Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Infrastructure – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 2:30 pm on 11 June 2024.
John O'Dowd
Sinn Féin
2:30,
11 June 2024
On the investment backlog, until this year, NI Water was fully funded in accordance with the price control period — fully funded. Until 2024-25, NI Water's investment plans have been fully funded. As a result of the Budget and 10 or 11 years of austerity under Tory rule, it will not be possible to fully fund NI Water for 2024-25 in accordance with the price control period. I am looking towards 2025-26. My officials and I are engaging with NI Water. I also met the Utility Regulator to see how we can move forward to protect our waste water treatment infrastructure and our environment.
The political party system in the English-speaking world evolved in the 17th century, during the fight over the ascension of James the Second to the Throne. James was a Catholic and a Stuart. Those who argued for Parliamentary supremacy were called Whigs, after a Scottish word whiggamore, meaning "horse-driver," applied to Protestant rebels. It was meant as an insult.
They were opposed by Tories, from the Irish word toraidhe (literally, "pursuer," but commonly applied to highwaymen and cow thieves). It was used — obviously derisively — to refer to those who supported the Crown.
By the mid 1700s, the words Tory and Whig were commonly used to describe two political groupings. Tories supported the Church of England, the Crown, and the country gentry, while Whigs supported the rights of religious dissent and the rising industrial bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Whigs became Liberals; Tories became Conservatives.
