Published Monday, 23 August 2010
Mr Murphy returned to his desk on Monday from holiday, in the wake of DRD Permanent Secretary Paul Priestly's suspension.
Mr Priestly was asked to take leave last week - less than 24 hours after a special UTV investigation into the controversial dismissals of four non-executive directors of NI Water.
Questions had been raised about the role he played in the independent investigation which led to the sackings.
His suspension was announced after he admitted drafting a letter criticising three MLAs serving on the Public Accounts Committee.
In an email sent by Mr Priestly to Phoenix Gas chief executive Peter Dixon, the senior civil servant says he "had a go at a draft."
The email was deleted some time ago from DRD and NI Water records.
The Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, Bruce Robinson, has launched an investigation into the conduct of Mr Priestly in relation to his email correspondence with Mr Dixon in July.
"I took the opportunity to meet with him (Mr Robinson), to meet with the new Permanent Secretary Malcolm McKibbon and senior people in the department and people in NIW as well and the Consumer Council and I want to ensure that those processes are going on properly", Mr Murphy told UTV on Monday.
The Sinn Fein minister said he retained confidence in NIW's chief executive Laurence MacKenzie who was copied into the email which contained the draft of the controversial letter.
The minister also denied that his own position was in question as the head of the department.
"There is no question here of scapegoating anyone," he said. "The head of the civil service agreed that the issues surrounding Paul Priestly were such that they merited his suspension and an investigation to be launched and I agree with that and made my views clear on that."
"None of the issues we are dealing with, which are serious issues of public money not being spent properly, would have come to light without Laurence MacKenzie bringing them to light," he added.