JUST one per cent of all applications to the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme have been unsuccessful.

Economy Minister Simon Hamilton said that out of a total of 1,985 applications to the scheme to date, just 20 had not been approved.

The minister disclosed the figure in response to a written Assembly question from SDLP Newry and Armagh MLA Justin McNulty.

It emerged on Tuesday that more than a third of the installations are in Co Tyrone, with the largest number of applications from post codes in the Dungannon area.

There were also a total of 195 applications in the Ballymena area across three postcodes, 149 in the Omagh area, and 145 within the area of Armagh city.

Mr Hamilton said that he intends to publish the names of all businesses who are recipients of the scheme next Wednesday.

The figures also showed that a majority of claims to the business scheme came from the poultry sector.

Poultry farmers supplying the Brazilian-owned food giant Moy Park are understood to make up a significant number of the non-domestic RHI claimants and two of the company's three factories in Northern Ireland - in Dungannon and Ballymena - are in close proximity to post codes with large numbers of applications.