Two hundred jobs are to be slashed at Northern Ireland Water, it has been revealed.

The part-government owned water authority said most of the redundancies would be made during the next few months.

The organisations said the move supports its target of reducing staffing levels from 2,000 to 1,500.

-- Advertisement --

Workers’ union, Unite, claimed staff have fallen foul of Northern Ireland Water’s preference for using private sector contractors.

An accusation rebutted by NI Water Chairman Chris Mellor, who insisted the job cuts are necessary to control costs.

According to Unite, over half of all water and sewage work undertaken by the company was contracted out to private firms.

The union has pledged to oppose the jobs losses.

(PR)