Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
RHI BACK-UP WOULD HAVE SAVED £200M*
*And probably Stormont, election farce and year without Executive
DETAILS of an alternative to the RHI scheme which would have saved £200million were never shared with the Stormont scrutiny committee, it has been claimed.
Patsy Mcglone, the former chair of the Enterprise Trade and Investment body – which was tasked with looking at proposed legislation for the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme – said officials never advised members about the less costly option.
The SDLP MLA said yesterday that had the committee been told about the cheaper scheme it would have “triggered questions”.
Mr Mcglone was giving evidence to the public inquiry into the RHI scandal, which led to the collapse of the powersharing Executive 12 months ago.
He is the first elected representative to give evidence to the probe.
The inquiry heard the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, whose minister at the time was DUP leader Arlene Foster, was aware of a green energy option that would have delivered the same amount of renewable heat, but for £200million less than the RHI scheme. However, the option, called the Challenge Fund, was not the preferred choice because it would have been difficult securing the money in the short term for it.
Mr Mcglone said he was shocked details of the cheaper option had not been presented to the committee.
He added: “It is probably one of a number of items I’m very surprised about in how this whole scheme has been handled and managed.
“Savings of that magnitude, particularly at times when budgets are being constrained, that certainly would have triggered a reaction from the committee. It would have triggered questions. I have no doubt about it.”
The Mid Ulster MLA said the committee had relied upon the “professionalism and integrity” of DETI officials for information about the RHI scheme. Mr Mcglone added that at the time the committee was asked to consider legislation for the proposal he had no concerns. He said however: “Looking back now [on the evidence presented to the inquiry] I have multiple concerns. “It appears internal management was completely askew.” Meanwhile. Sinn Fein’s continued “eulogising” of the IRA is thwarting efforts to build a shared future, Mrs Foster warned yesterday.
She delivered a blunt message to her former partners in government in the wake of a furore sparked when one of their MPS posing with a Kingsmill-branded loaf on his head on the anniversary of the Kingsmill massacre.
Mrs Foster added: “They have to stop eulogising terrorists. They have to stop that, it cannot continue.
“If we are building a new shared future for the people of Northern Ireland, let’s build it, but let’s move away from the past and move away from the eulogising of terrorists.”
Mrs Foster claimed the controversy around West Tyrone MP Barry Mcelduff ’s social media video was just one of many instances where Sinn Fein members showed disrespect to victims.
He has been suspended by Sinn Fein for three months.
Mr Mcelduff has insisted the video was not meant as a reference to the republican murders of 10 Protestant workmen at the village of Kingsmill in January 1976 and issued an unreserved apologies to the victims’ families.