Stormont is often accused of doing very little and doing it very slowly but that is not an accusation that can be levelled at infrastructure minister Chris Hazzard.
Just one day after the Irish News highlighted the fact that water meters are still being installed despite an earlier pledge to stop the practice, the newly appointed Sinn Féin minister called an immediate halt.
``In the current financial climate, the continued waste of public money to instal meters which will not be used cannot continue,'' said the minister in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Mr Hazzard added he has instructed NI Water to stop fitting meters while regulations are drafted.
This is undoubtedly a positive and speedy development but there will be a concern that this work has been continuing despite an assurance from then regional development minister Danny Kennedy in 2014 that the law would be changed.
That vow came after this paper revealed that 35,000 meters had been fitted in domestic properties. Since then a further 7,000 household meters have been installed at a total cost in excess of £13 million since 2007.
Indeed, NI Water has welcomed the minister's intervention, pointing out that it had previously requested that the requirement to fit meters in new-build homes should be lifted.
All this raises further questions about the continuation of a practice that not only the previous minister was opposed to but also the organisation tasked with carrying out this work.
Apart from the cost to the public purse, people will have grave suspicions about the fact that meters have been installed despite the considerable opposition to water charges being introduced in Northern Ireland.
We are told regulations removing the requirement for NI Water to fit meters in new homes will be brought before the assembly after the summer break.
However, people are entitled to ask how many more meters would have been fitted if a newspaper had not put the spotlight on this issue?
