Northern Ireland

Sinn Féin urged to vote for Arlene Foster to step aside

First Minister Arlene Foster will face a special sitting of the assembly on Monday. Picture by Niall Carson/PA Wire
First Minister Arlene Foster will face a special sitting of the assembly on Monday. Picture by Niall Carson/PA Wire First Minister Arlene Foster will face a special sitting of the assembly on Monday. Picture by Niall Carson/PA Wire

SINN Féin is expected to come under pressure to back a motion of no confidence in First Minister Arlene Foster over her handling of the botched Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).

The DUP leader's oversight of the scheme while minister at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment will come under the spotlight on Monday when the assembly is recalled for a special sitting to debate the green energy scandal.

The SDLP has called for Mrs Foster to step aside until questions about the RHI debacle are answered, while Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt has said she should consider her position.

Flaws in the £1.2 billion renewables scheme mean a £400m hole could be burned in the Stormont executive's budget over the next 20 years.

Mrs Foster has refused to accept responsibility for the RHI's failings, telling The Irish News in October that ministers could not be across "every jot and tittle" of policy.

The initiative was originally designed to cost just half its forecast budget, while subsidising 10 times the number of businesses and farmers who actually signed up.

Arlene Foster speaks to the Irish News about the scheme in October:

Radio Ulster's Nolan Show yesterday said it had unearthed emails suggesting civil servants were pressurised by the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) in autumn last year to stall measures that would have curbed the scheme's largesse.

The DUP has insisted that no-one at what was then Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness's office sought to delay the closure of the scheme.

The Irish News reported yesterday how the DUP's 'in-out ministers' manoeuvre in September 2015 had stalled legislation designed to significantly cut the executive's outlay on the RHI.

The Peter Robinson-led response to the IRA's killing of Kevin McGuigan coincided with a spike in applications for the scheme and therefore cost Stormont tens of millions of pounds in the process.

The Department for the Economy insists the much-derided in-out strategy had "no effect" on the surge in RHI applicants, while the DUP claimed the story was "erroneous" and that the legislation was delayed for only two weeks.

As the row over the scandal showed little sign of abating yesterday, the DUP released an email from 2013 to Arlene Foster in which it said an RHI whistleblower first makes contact with the then enterprise minister.

Mrs Foster has been accused of ignoring the whistleblower's concerns.

North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds claimed the email showed that the woman in question "simply asked for a meeting on energy efficiency matters" rather than highlighted flaws with the RHI, which were only later raised with officials.

The DUP deputy leader said opposition parties needed to withdraw the claim that the first minister failed to follow up on the email.

Stormont's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will meet today to discuss whether to call Mrs Foster to give evidence as part of its inquiry into the RHI.

The Irish News reported last month that unwritten assembly conventions means ordinarily the first minister would escape a grilling by the spending watchdog.

Before her PAC appearance, which is likely to be scheduled for the new year, Mrs Foster will face the assembly on Monday at a specially convened plenary.

Announcing the recall, the first and deputy first ministers said the executive recognised the "seriousness of the issues involved and the importance of restoring public confidence".

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said his party would be tabling a motion of no confidence that aimed to exclude the first minister while she faces questions over her RHI oversight.

He claimed that after two weeks of "ducking and dodging" questions about her conduct, the first minister had lost the confidence of the public and of the assembly.

Mr Eastwood also called on Sinn Féin MLAs to "step out of the shadow of the DUP" and sign the motion, which requires 30 signatures.

"They have a choice – they can stand with the us and with the public who are demanding the highest standard of accountability or they can continue to stand in the shadow of the DUP, propping up a first minister who treats accountability with disdain."

Sinn Féin did not comment on Mr Eastwood's remarks.

Last night Ulster Unionist MP Danny Kinahan said Westminster needed to understand the magnitude of the botched RHI scheme.

"I took the opportunity today during Cabinet Office questions to raise the point that £400m will be wasted from the Northern Ireland block grant – this is taxpayers’ money literally going up in smoke," he said.