THE Ulster Farmers' Union has confirmed its current president is also a recipient of the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme.
Barclay Bell uses a boiler on farm woodland to dry grain, the lobby group confirmed, as it criticised press coverage of the RHI controversy.
It means four heads of the Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU) have now emerged as RHI claimants – including the three most recent presidents.
The Irish News yesterday revealed that Harry Sinclair has boilers on his farm outside Draperstown. He was UFU president when Stormont first introduced the botched green energy scheme.
He is also an associate of ex-DUP special adviser Andrew Crawford, who quit following claims he exerted influence over RHI. Mr Crawford denies the allegations.
Mr Sinclair said he and Mr Crawford, who previously worked for the UFU, are not in regular contact and have never discussed RHI.
He defended his involvement in the scheme, saying: "As far as I can see I have done everything that's right."
A public inquiry has been launched into the RHI debacle, which has a projected £490m overspend and has sparked to a snap election.
Farming accounts for the vast majority of RHI claims, according to application figures.
UFU has repeatedly said it "does not comment on the farm business or personal matters of our members or our presidential team" when asked about the scheme.
But yesterday the lobby group moved to confirm that Mr Bell has an RHI boiler.
Criticising press coverage, its chief executive Wesley Aston said it was no surprise that some of its members would also be RHI claimants.
"These are, by definition, progressive farmers who have always taken up new ideas. They were encouraged by those buying what they produce and by government to embrace this scheme," he said.
Mr Aston added: "It seems that with the election under way some are now seeking out soft targets over RHI. I would suggest they turn the focus back to where the blame should be – on a poorly designed scheme and the lack of government audits to find and punish those breaking the rules.
"Instead they are allowing those with things to hide to divert the media into chasing those who have done nothing wrong, and who invested a lot of their own money to cut costs and to meet the pressures exerted on them by those to whom they sell their end product."
UFU has previously confirmed it had pressed Stormont officials to delay plans to cut RHI payment rates until members completed planned installations.
Mr Aston said: "We will always press for fair treatment for our members. We did so over a grace period. This was with officials and not with politicians or special advisers."
Last month it emerged that former UFU president John Gilliland, who led the UFU from 2001 to 2003, has three RHI boilers on his farm in Derry.
And in December it emerged that Ian Marshall, who was UFU president at the time of his application in 2015, has three burners on his Co Armagh farm.
The state-funded RHI scheme was supposed to encourage the use of renewable energy, but paid out more in subsidies than the cost of fuel.
It has been engulfed in claims of abuse, including allegations that one farmer is set to pocket around £1m over the next 20 years for heating an empty shed.
