DAMNING REPORT ON RHI WAS A ‘QUARE GUNK’ FOR OFFICIALS
THREE CIVIL SERVANTS FACE INQUIRY QUESTIONS TOM KELLY: WITNESSING POLITICS AT ITS WORST
THE head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service has denied blaming a colleague for the botched Renewable Heat Incentive scheme in order to secure a promotion.
David Sterling appeared before the RHI Inquiry yesterday.
He dismissed a claim by a former DUP special adviser that he tried to pin the blame on fellow civil servant Dr Andrew McCormick.
Both Mr Sterling and Dr McCormick had been in the running to succeed Sir Malcolm McKibben as Civil Service chief.
His evidence also included details of how the “febrile” political tensions nearly derailed any chance of bringing RHI under control before Stormont collapsed.
In January 2015 Mr Sterling was the top civil servant at the Department of Finance.
He sent an email to Dr McCormick, then heading the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Deti), asking how his officials had got RHI so wrong.
Ex-DUP Spad Tim Cairns said Dr McCormick believed at the time he was being unfairly blamed.
Mr Sterling rejected the accusation he did this to gain an advantage, saying: “It’s just not in my nature to seek to do something like that.”
Having known Dr McCormick for 18 years, Mr Sterling said he regarded him as a friend and that he would never try to shift blame towards him.
Another accusation was that Mr Sterling had a major row with the another DUP Spad, Dr Andrew Crawford.
Dr Crawford removed a reference to the poultry industry in a key document about reducing spending on RHI.
It emerged that some poultry farmers were exploiting the scheme by heating empty sheds to receive more public subsidies.
Three relatives of Dr Crawford had 11 biomass boilers between them registered with RHI.
Mr Sterling said he didn’t know if Dr Crawford removed the poultry reference for political purposes or the benefit of his family.
Former DUP minister Jonathan Bell claimed he’d heard that Mr Sterling told Dr Crawford: “You kept this scheme open for the benefit of your family and you’ve caused a significant budgetary crisis in Northern Ireland.”
Mr Sterling, however, said he would have remembered any such exchange and that he couldn’t recall Dr Crawford’s family being raised as a significant issue.
He went on to detail the many hurdles the Civil Service faced in closing RHI.
In early 2016 Mr Sterling said Stormont ministers hoped the Treasury would bail them out.
In contrast, civil servants had been told there was no chance of that, as extra money had just been given to Northern Ireland after the Fresh Start Agreement.
Mr Sterling said he believed the Treasury was growing tired of how Northern Ireland “always does well when there are political negotiations”.
This was confirmed by a letter from the Treasury in January 2016 making it clear the Stormont Executive would be paying the bill.
Initially, it was believed this would overrun by £33m, something Deti could not afford.
At this time he said there was a consensus that RHI needed to be shut down; the only question was how quickly, due to fears of a legal challenge.
The DUP and Sinn Fein agreed to shut the scheme down, but with a two-week grace period.
Sinn Fein had asked for the extension, allowing nearly 300 more people to apply at an estimated cost of £91.5m over 20 years.
Although officials didn’t know the cost the delay would have, Mr Sterling said: “There wasn’t much more we really could do whenever the First Minister or Deputy First Minister had agreed that this was the way that they wanted to play it.”
When the RHI scandal fully emerged at the end of December 2016, Mr Sterling said the “political crisis” between the DUP and Sinn Fein held up attempts to cut RHI subsidies.
He said “the pretty torrid” period was made worse by key documents being leaked to the media.
The fear was the impending collapse of Stormont meant there would be no way to legislate on crucial matters. The cost controls were eventually passed in January 2017, but Mr Sterling said the “febrile” political atmosphere at the time made this especially hard.
The inquiry heard that former DUP Economy Minister Simon Hamiton had been concerned at “foot-dragging” by Sinn Fein’s Finance Minister Mairtin O Muilleoir over approving the new regulations in January 2017.
“I was seriously concerned (by the delay) because there was a lot at stake,” Mr Sterling said.
At the time the Assembly was about to collapse for a new election leaving a limited time to approve the business case.
“My personal calculation was that Mr O Muilleoir would approve the business case... to be candid, in the political environment at the time he wasn’t likely to make that easy and it would go to the wire, and so it transpired.”
Inquiry counsel Joseph Aiken asked Mr Sterling about how the Civil Service could restore public confidence.
Mr Sterling said: “It’s only right to recognise the extent of the failings and I should offer a profound and unequivocal apology for the mistakes made.”
He also promised that any recommendations made by the inquiry will be implemented quickly.
“There’s still a bit of a silo-based mentality in departments, that’s something we’re trying to break down,” he said.
Other areas of concern included problems with secret documents being leaked to the Press.
Looking ahead, Mr Sterling said the Civil Service was still facing profound challenges.
“The obvious point is that we’re heading towards two years without ministerial direction, something that would not be tolerated anywhere else on these islands,” he said. “We have another five months without that. The Secretary of State’s guidance is welcome... but this will be an intensely difficult period.”