The Democratic Unionist Party's two ministers in the Northern Executive have been criticised by cabinet colleagues for failing to attend a briefing on the cryptosporidium outbreak in the Greater Belfast and Lisburn areas.
At the Executive's first meeting after the summer break, the First Minister, Mr David Trimble, said he noted "with some regret" that the Regional Development Minister, Mr Gregory Campbell, was not present to give his account of the outbreak affecting around 100,000 householders in the Poleglass, Lisburn and Dunmurry areas.
Mr Campbell sent in his place the chief executive of the North's Water Service, Mr Robert Martin, to brief Ulster Unionist, SDLP and Sinn Fein ministers on his agency's response to the bug. Mr Trimble, who is among the householders affected by a Water Service order to boil water supplies before use, criticised the DUP ministers for maintaining their boycott of cabinet meetings and questioned whether they were serving the public by adopting their stance.
The First Minister said he would not rule out the possibility that water services would be privatised in the future.
In other business, the Executive Committee approved the legislative programme for the coming Assembly session as well as schedules for sectoral and plenary meetings of the North-South Ministerial Council and the British Irish Council.
The Assembly's Higher and Further Education Committee has called for a fuller debate on the British government's New Deal programme, which, it said, was not meeting its objectives, especially with regard to the long-term unemployed.
Committee members yesterday heard evidence from New Deal providers and members of the Training and Employment Agency. Afterwards, they called for a full Assembly debate on the programme so that elected representatives could fully investigate the problems raised and seek long-term solutions.
The committee's chairman, Dr Esmond Birnie, said he was particularly concerned about the New Deal's inflexibility. "Often it does not deliver the training or work-placement options which will make participants more employable on completion. This is an opportunity lost. It is simply not acceptable that New Deal should not provide new hope for the long-term unemployed."
A Sinn Fein committee member, Ms Mary Nelis, called for the reintroduction of grant-aid to students in higher education. She said the current system had the potential to create a "two-tier" form of education.
The Culture, Arts and Leisure Committee met to discuss the recent deaths in motorcycle racing in the North. Members expressed their sympathy but said that, with sufficient safety measures and controls in place, road racing should continue.
At a meeting of the Environment Committee, a representative of the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, Mr Peter Marlow, demanded heavier fines for property developers who demolish protected buildings. Mr Marlow said it was not sufficient to have a maximum fine of stg£25,000 in place.
Mr Trimble and the Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, announced yesterday that they would meet President Clinton in Washington next week and invite him to make a return visit to the North.