Statement by TUV Leader Jim Allister:
 
"Welcome and appropriate as the departure of Laurence MacKenzie is, of itself it is not enough to deliver accountability for the monumental DRD/NIW failure. Above all this was a ministerial failure, so Murphy clinging to office long after he has lost the confidence of the public is not acceptable in an accountable democracy.
 
"Murphy is on the run from his responsibilities. But his failure to resign merely adds to the loss of credibility which the mismanagement of the water crisis has brought to devolution. The promise was of local accountability, the reality and priority has been political buck-passing and ministerial self-preservation.
 
"The inescapable lesson from this debacle is that neither accountable nor good government are possible under the rigged form of devolution which presently prevails in Stormont. Mandatory coalition rewards and protects incompetence, because the party fiefdoms are inviolable, whereas worthwhile and accountable devolution, with a vibrant Opposition, means failed ministers are sacked. But, here the impotent First Minister can't sack anyone, other than his own party colleagues, because in this absurd system ministers are not answerable to the Executive, the Assembly or the people, but only to their party."