THE Economy Minister has said he is unable to provide a geographical breakdown of claimants to the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme.
Simon Hamilton said that his department "does not hold a geographical breakdown of applications by district council area".
The outgoing First Minister, Arlene Foster, said on Tuesday that Mr Hamilton would "have more to say on both transparency and cost controls" later this week.
It comes after the minister had refused to provide a cost for 14 applications to the RHI scheme which had been considered as falling into the most serious category where fraud was suspected.
Mr Hamilton has also declined to release the names of applicants, citing data protection issues.
The minister was responding to a written Assembly question from South Down SDLP MLA Sinéad Bradley.
Mrs Bradley said: "Perhaps Simon Hamilton hoped that this information would remain under wraps but if reports are accurate, and he is now preparing to reveal the beneficiaries of RHI, then what happened to the data protection laws that he claimed prevented him from releasing this information when we first asked weeks ago?
"A geographical breakdown of RHI beneficiaries may reveal which political heartlands benefitted most from the catastrophically generous scheme.
"Simon Hamilton’s failure to grant any semblance of transparency into the RHI scheme to date typifies the contempt with which this failed Executive has held the public.
"It lays bare their fear of accountability and now the public must hold them accountable at the ballot box."
