THE Sinn Féin position on whether a public inquiry should be held into the botched Renewable Heat Incentive is under scrutiny yet again, just days after the party released a firm statement in opposition.
After appearing to clarify it did not support a public inquiry on Friday evening a senior MLA contradicted the party line on Monday by calling for a "time-framed,comprehensive, independent public inquiry, led by an international jurist".
The statement from South Antrim MLA Declan Kearney released on Monday morning was hastily withdrawn by the Sinn Féin press office just hours later and a new one released.
This time Mr Kearney spoke of the need for a "time-framed, comprehensive, independent investigation, led by an international jurist.”
A Sinn Féin spokesman said the confusion was the result of a "typo" and was quickly rectified.
The apparent flip-flop of position comes a month after deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said that a public inquiry into RHI should be held as a "matter of urgency".
Newry and Armagh MLA Conor Murphy also previously said that a public inquiry should be one of the options considered to find out what went wrong.
SDLP Mid Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone accused Sinn Féin of being in "complete disarray" over how to respond to the RHI scandal.
"At a time when the public needs strong leadership, they have met DUP arrogance with equivocation, confusion and weakness," Mr McGlone said.
“They rolled over on their threat of ‘grave consequences’ should the First Minister not resign her position.
"They are in the middle of rolling over on the need for an independent inquiry into this shambles. Today we saw their party chairperson attempt a u-turn in the space of a couple of hours with a revised statement.
"Mary Lou McDonald has yet to correct her call for a full independent inquiry to align herself with Northern Sinn Féin’s latest media strategy," he added.
Video: Arlene Foster speaking to the Irish News in October about RHI:
A statement issued by Sinn Féin on Friday night appeared to indicate that it no longer regarded a public inquiry as necessary.
A party spokesman said its priority was "restoring public confidence in the institutions by holding those responsible for this scandal to account".
"We believe that this can be best achieved by an independent, time-framed, robust and transparent investigation undertaken by an independent judicial figure from outside this jurisdiction and appointed by the attorney general," a party statement said.
"It is Sinn Féin’s view that a statutory public inquiry could drag on for years at a significant cost to the tax payers and adding to the cost of this scandal," they said.
In Mr Kearney's re-issued statement on Monday the Sinn Féin National chairperson said the political process is being dragged towards an "unprecedented tipping point" as a result of the DUP's behaviour around the RHI scandal and re-iterated party calls for Arlene Foster to step aside as First Minister.
Writing in An Phoblacht, Mr Kearney said the DUP had "lost the run of themselves within the northern political institutions".
"The political process has now been dragged recklessly by the DUP, culminating with the RHI crisis towards an unprecedented tipping point," he said.
