THE Irish government has insisted it has no "direct insight" into when the much-anticipated RHI inquiry report will be published after Tánaiste Simon Coveney told an Oireachtas committee it was due "next month".
The minister for foreign affairs made the remark on Thursday as he appeared before the Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Coveney said: "My understanding is that the RHI inquiry was fairly robust and it is going to report next month. I think that is going to be an awkward period, the reporting of that."
Ulster Unionist finance spokesman Steve Aiken said the tánaiste's comment suggested he knew "something the rest of us don’t on the publication of the RHI report".
But a spokesman for the inquiry, which finished its oral hearings in December, said the report was still being compiled and that no publication date had been set.
The spokesman insisted it would not see the light of day next month.
The Department for Foreign Affairs yesterday sought to clear up the matter by saying it had no information about the report's publication.
"The tánaiste was asked at an Oireachtas committee yesterday what the Irish government was doing about the RHI inquiry and replied that we are awaiting the report of the inquiry," a spokesman said.
"The Irish government has no direct insight into the operations of the inquiry, nor has it any contact with the Inquiry, and has no information on when its report is due."
