Major cuts at DoI as government seeks £5m savings

A package of cutbacks including compulsory job losses is on the cards at the Department of Infrastructure, as it faces a £5 million reduction in its budget.   

Minister Laurence Skelly has outlined the scale of savings he must find in the current year - as the department prepares to make a major contribution to re balancing the government's books. 

In the past three years more than 100 full-time posts have gone at the DoI.

Staff are being offered further voluntary resignations but Mr Skelly says compulsory redundancies cannot be ruled out.

The department's now considering which taxpayer-funded services could in future be run privately but says no decisions have been made yet. 

Mr Skelly says an immense challenge lies ahead: