THE RHI scheme was presented to MLAs as the "all-singing, all-dancing, new green energy future", the former chair of a Stormont committee has said.
Patsy McGlone headed the assembly committee tasked with examining the work of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Deti), including the flawed RHI scheme.
He said Deti was never forthcoming about the problems with RHI, even while emergency changes were being drafted – and the scheme was "repeatedly presented to us as a success story".
Speaking at the RHI inquiry yesterday, the SDLP assembly member said industry was kept "better informed" by Deti about RHI than his committee, adding: "Perhaps we should've had our meetings at Moy Park."
But Mr McGlone faced questions over whether the Enterprise, Trade and Investment (ETI) committee provided a "sufficiently effective oversight of the department".
Inquiry panellist Dame Una O'Brien said the committee appeared to have "taken everything the department told you at face value".
Around the RHI scheme's launch, Mr McGlone gave a speech in the assembly in which he raised concerns presented to the committee about subsidies giving an incentive to inefficiently install multiple smaller boilers.
He suggested it should be considered at a later stage by Deti, but the inquiry heard the issue was not addressed by the department and the committee did not follow it up.
Mr McGlone had also highlighted that Deti had informed the committee that RHI would have "scheduled reviews built in" and ETI would "pay particular attention to the reviews".
But the committee did not press for reviews of the scheme later when it was in operation.
Mr McGlone accepted that ETI "should have definitely picked up on that and said, 'yes, where's the review?'"
The inquiry also heard there was a gap in six-monthly updates to the committee on RHI from Deti, but the committee did not query this.
Under questioning from inquiry chair Sir Patrick Coghlin, Mr McGlone acknowledged the committee should have asked more questions.
However, the Mid Ulster MLA said Deti did not give his committee sufficient information.
"This was being presented to us as the all-singing, all-dancing, new green energy future," he said.
Mr McGlone said that when Deti told the committee of cost controls in autumn 2015, there was "no sense of urgency" communicated.
He said: "Even if we had asked for more information, would that have been presented to us in a fulsome, proper and professional way?
"When I asked about the urgency of the situation in 2015, it was a fairly blasé response I got."
:: A picture caption accompanying an RHI report in Wednesday's edition displayed the names of two people giving evidence at the inquiry in the wrong order
