BELFAST City Council will meet to debate a motion calling for a public independent inquiry into the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scandal, as the political crisis caused by the scheme deepens.
Independent unionist councillor Ruth Patterson proposed the motion, to be voted upon when the council meets for the first time on Tuesday since the Christmas recess.
While the DUP are expected to vote against the motion, Sinn Féin, who have been rowing back from calls for a public probe into the £400m overspend, have proposed an amendment.
The party's head of the council group Jim McVeigh has instead called for an investigation "carried out by an independent judicial figure" and appointed from outside of Northern Ireland by the Attorney General, John Larkin.
However, Ms Patterson claimed the amendment was a "textbook piece of political wriggling".
"The matter of RHI is only being debated at Belfast City Council because of this motion, a motion that Sinn Féin would clearly rather had not come before council.
"The proposed Sinn Féin amendment is designed- as is so often the case- to use linguistic summersaults in order to cloak their true aims in language that suggests something quite different.
"The fact is that Sinn Féin are running a mile from a public inquiry- which can only properly happen under the Inquiries Act 2005.
"The amendment seeks to omit any reference to the Inquiries Act, thus removing the legislative mechanism that would give all their blustering some credence".
Video: Arlene Foster speaking to the Irish News in October about RHI:
Ms Patterson also said she hoped councillors representing the opposition parties would vote in favour of her original motion.
"Sinn Féin are playing poker, and not playing it very well. Their most cherished possession is the iniquitous architecture of the Belfast Agreement; hell will freeze over before they collapse the Assembly," she added.
