Northern Ireland's water authority has apologized for its handling of a recent water shortage that saw more than a million customer complaints, officials said.
Northern Ireland Water director of customer service Liam Mulholland told a Parliament committee the scale of the problem had taken them by surprise, the BBC reported Thursday.
NIW chief executive Laurence Mackenzie resigned after mounting criticism of the company's response.
Mackenzie was due to appear before the Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for Regional Development hearing evidence about the crisis.
His decision not to attend was criticized by the committee chair, Fred Cobain.
"This is a huge issue, not just for this committee and the Assembly, but for the thousands of people who have suffered," Cobain said.
"He has a responsibility to those people. As far as we are concerned he should have been here and he is not."
During the shortage as many as 40,000 homes and businesses in 74 towns were without water supplies after a thaw in icy conditions caused pipes to burst.