Ruth’s right about SF dodgy dealings

Sir — I agree with Ruth Dudley Edwards when she suggests (Sunday Independent, December 2) that Sinn Fein is implicated in the “Cash for Ash” scandal at Stormont, being in fact fully in support of it.

It is a credible point to suggest that Sinn Fein simply used the scandal to bring down Stormont at a point when it was facing the greatest crisis in its modern history, the loss of Martin McGuinness.

That way, it attempted to get the DUP the blame for the collapse of the North’s institutions two years ago.

However, we should not stop there in the analysis of the situation that developed at that time. Surely, Sinn Fein is even more culpable than Ruth Dudley Edwards suggests.

That’s because, not only did Sinn Fein know about the “Cash for Ash” scheme, it had most likely negotiated it into existence for its own interests.

I’m referring to the Sinn Feinbacked and very popular scheme that allowed benefit claimants to postpone reductions in their benefits for a year in the ongoing major overhaul of the benefits system.

The scheme was widely welcomed among nationalists, but the DUP was lukewarm and suddenly we get a “Cash for Ash” scheme which is suspiciously costed at almost exactly the same amount as the benefits scheme, around £500m (€562m).

I would allege that these two schemes were “quid pro quo” for each other, that both Sinn Fein and the DUP signed off on them in the full knowledge of their cost to taxpayers, and that these two parties were engaged with such arrogance, they thought that they would get away with this by lying about their deal, as they have done to date. John O’Connell,

Derry