RHI – Page 4 – Slugger O'Toole

Soapbox: “…row in behind public opinion or protect their partners in Government”

Soapbox on January 3, 2017, 12:58 pm

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With every day that passes, the path for those seeking to block a full public inquiry into the diabolical RHI scheme is getting narrower. Many parties have suggested various forms of investigations and inquiries , but what is becoming abundantly clear is that only one form of inquiry can get to the truth, and that is a full public inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005. That is why the motion constructed by Cllr Ruth Patterson, which comes before Belfast City …

Sinn Fein’s abandonment of public inquiry leaves them slung between rock and hard place

Mick Fealty on January 3, 2017, 12:33 pm

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One Sinn Fein friend on Twitter this morning tried to argue that a SF public representative producing their own Press Release from their own email (after it had been withdrawn by the press office) was normal practice. Not in my experience. In fact, as Gareth McKeown points out, it was only one word of a difference: After appearing to clarify it did not support a public inquiry on Friday evening a senior MLA contradicted the party line on Monday by …

Carthy “Do not assume that republican patience is limitless!”

David McCann on January 1, 2017, 10:45 pm

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Chris had a piece up on Sinn Fein’s approach towards RHI and we will have to wait until the Assembly comes back to see how far the are prepared to go over this issue but a contribution was made today by Matt Carthy MEP who has issued a warning to the DUP. I have bolded some of the key bits. Nationalists and republicans throughout Ireland, not least members and supporters of Sinn Féin, are deeply angered at the recent actions and …

RHI Scheme and the sector it could have helped.

David McCann on December 26, 2016, 9:35 am

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On Christmas Eve, the Irish News Political Correspondent, John Manley had an interesting story in the paper about the RHI scheme and the sectors that it could have helped. He reports; Deti’s delayed launch of the regional RHI in 2012 came not long after the Stormont-sponsored Agri-Food Strategy Board set out its plan to increase exports of beef, dairy, pork and poultry. The plan was supported by then First Minister Peter Robinson, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, Agriculture Minister Michelle …

Soapbox: Arlene Foster Was Never a Suitable First Minister

Soapbox on December 23, 2016, 10:00 am

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The exclusion motion on Arlene Foster focussed on the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scandal. I would argue, however, that Mrs Foster has a track record beyond RHI that shows she was never suitable to be our First Minister. The potential £250m clean-up costs highlighted in 2013 by the Mills Report into illegal waste dumping in Northern Ireland I believe can be traced back to Arlene Foster’s decision when Environment Minister, not to create an independent Environmental Protection Agency (iEPA). In …

Four lessons from the Opposition’s failed RHI attempt at political Regicide…

Mick Fealty on December 21, 2016, 1:06 pm

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So the grave consequences of the RHI scandal is to be an election, hints Alex Maskey. After Arlene publicly spurned Martin’s friendly advice that she should step aside whilst a judge-led inquiry gets stuck into investigating her ministerial inadequacies Any new election would run on five seat constituencies, something that’s likely to cause more damage to the smaller parties than the two in government. But just ask yourself what would such an election decide: and it will tell you something important about this …

“offering hard-pressed businesses the chance of zero cost heat for 20 years”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on December 20, 2016, 6:59 pm

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Behind the RHI headline figure of £400 million over twenty years, how large are some of the individual business profits likely to be? For most it’ll be £5-10,000 a year. But for a small number, the figures are huge, perhaps (quite legitimately) £800,000 over 20 years. An enormous state intervention.

The Problem of Spotting an RHI Application Peak

Mark Anderson on December 20, 2016, 3:57 pm

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Over the last couple of weeks, there have been many comments from officials and political representatives about the RHI spike in the 10 weeks from early September 2015 to November 2015. Continually quoted is that 984 applications out of 1,946 came in during this three month period and that this spike was unprecedented and impossible to predict! Was it really? The GB RHI has tiering and degression. This means there has been continuous review and adjustment to the rates paid …

Telling detail of #RHI remains the place the political gold lies…

Mick Fealty on December 20, 2016, 8:15 am

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Another Christmas, another crisis? Yes, but this one is different from Stormont’s Christmas crises past. For a start, we now have an opposition. Far from a perfect arrangement. It doesn’t allow the electorate to kick the bums out, as they say in the US, for instance. But it does mean there’s a large group of politicians not solely invested in making government work. Rather, their ability to grow political capital now depends on their ability to: 1, knock big holes in government policy; …

Foster hits a Good Friday Agreement nerve…

Daithi McKay on December 20, 2016, 6:40 am

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Another string to add to the First Minister’s bow. By proceeding with today’s statement to the Assembly, without the consent of the deputy First Minister, the First Minister is arguably in breach of the Ministerial Code’s Pledge of Office. This states that she must: “observe the joint nature of the office of First Minister and deputy First Minister.” By making a speech unagreed by McGuinness the First Minister has undermined the jointery of the Executive office and the principle of …

On whose authority was the Assembly convened today for a Ministerial statement?

Mick Fealty on December 19, 2016, 3:43 pm

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Here’s a weird one, which may go some way to explain the odd behaviour of the Speaker this morning. It becomes clearer if we ask an earlier question: on who’s authority was the Assembly convened today for a jointly approved Ministerial statement from Arlene? De jure, and by necessity, the request must have been jointly issued from both Arlene and Martin. So at that point, and right up to the weekend, it looked like Martin was on board. Then came …

Speaker ignores standing orders and sparks an Assembly walk out…

Mick Fealty on December 19, 2016, 12:47 pm

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This morning the dFM withheld his consent for the First Minister to make a statement on behalf of the joint office of the Executive (the artist formerly known as OFMdFM). As Mike Nesbitt raised in a point of order just after the start, this changed the terms on which the Assembly had been summoned. Extraordinarily, the Speaker at first refused to accept Nesbitt’s point of order and then was forced to take a 20-minute adjournment. Restart brought a flurry of points of order …

A reliable guide to the RHI issue (without the Hot Air)

Mark Anderson on December 19, 2016, 10:41 am

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Northern Ireland RHI has developed two clear issues, one political including allegations of fraud, ulterior motives, bullying and harassment, the second is the failure in the policy to deliver what was supposed to be an efficient and sustainable increase in the deployment of renewable heat. As an engineer and an energy researcher with a bias towards biomass over the last ten years, it’s the latter issue that interests me. Why have an RHI? The Renewable Energy Directive set a binding …

Sinn Féin to table amendment calling for Foster to step aside for 4 weeks & expand scope of judicial inquiry

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on December 18, 2016, 6:59 pm

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SINN FEIN will table an amendment to tomorrow morning’s motion of no confidence requiring the First Minister only to step aside while a four week preliminary report is produced, but expanding the remit of the inquiry to cover special advisers and civil servants. They threaten grave consequences if the DUP disregard the joint authority of the Executive Office.

McGuinness and Foster at odds over the response to the RHI Scheme

David McCann on December 17, 2016, 9:36 am

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The Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness has called on Arlene Foster to stand aside as First Minister for a period of time I spoke by phone this afternoon with the First Minister, Arlene Foster. “I outlined my serious concern that the credibility of the political institutions is being undermined by the serious and ongoing allegations surrounding the design, operation, abuse and ending of the Renewable Heating Incentive Scheme. “This includes allegations from a former DUP Minster that there was corruption. …

SDLP Motion to Exclude Foster reaches 30 signatures

David McCann on December 16, 2016, 4:19 pm

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An SDLP motion to exclude Arlene Foster as First Minister for a period of 6 months has now reached 30 signatures and will be debated on Monday. The motion is backed by the Ulster Unionist Party, Alliance Party, Green Party, People Before Profit and Traditional Unionist Voice. If all MLAs attend, that gives the motion 41 votes in favour, that is a majority over the 36 DUP MLAs. The Speaker Robin Newton cannot vote and Bell is shaky at the moment. Some …

Old-fashioned confession might have served DUP better than this RHI runaround…

Mick Fealty on December 16, 2016, 3:27 pm

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An Evening with the Borgias was how one Facebook friend put it. Well, perhaps not quite that bad but since DUP on DUP action is such an uncommon sight on NI television, last night’s Nolan Special was revealing in parts. One of the things it revealed is that former Minster Bell has been Stephen Nolan’s ‘Deep Throat’ for some of this story. Most of his revelations centre around his own brief tenure in the department at the core of the …

Maírtín, quick to lay into Bell – not so quick for Foster

Kris Nixon (Belfast Barman) on December 15, 2016, 6:13 pm

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Just a curious observation following Finance Minister Maírtín Ó Muilleoir commenting yesterday on the ongoing RHI situation, where he refused to say if he retained confidence in the DUP leader. Quite a stark contrast to when the Finance Minister appeared before the Finance Committee to answer questions raised over the Daithí McKay/Jamie Bryson deep throat situation. When Jonathan Bell began to give Ó Muilleoir a hard time in the witness seat, the Finance Minister was irascible in his replies. Ó …

Be nice to people on your way up…

Daithi McKay on December 15, 2016, 11:09 am

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Everyone will be watching Nolan Live tonight with bated breath (and popcorn). What will Jonathan Bell say? Will he produce documents and materials that will amount to a de facto ‘smoking gun’? The SDLP has said that they will table a motion of no confidence in the First Minister on Monday. People before Profit have organised ‘Arlene must go’ rallies for tomorrow and their timing (whilst fluky) is perfect given that people will be presumably reeling from tonight’s interview with …

DUP go on the offensive over RHI

David McCann on December 14, 2016, 5:04 pm

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The DUP have released the first email from the Whistle Blower over the RHI scheme; The Deputy Leader of the DUP, Nigel Dodds says this email vindicates the First Minister; There has been a quite scurrilous attempt to blame Arlene Foster for the RHI saga. The endlessly repeated claim has been that she failed to follow up on the whistle blower concerns. “Now we know that no such concerns were raised with her. This is no criticism of the lady …