Northern Ireland

Foster defiant but RHI scandal expected to flare up again

Mrs Foster made her RHI statement to fellow DUP MLAs and Justice Minister Claire Sugden
Mrs Foster made her RHI statement to fellow DUP MLAs and Justice Minister Claire Sugden Mrs Foster made her RHI statement to fellow DUP MLAs and Justice Minister Claire Sugden

FIRST Minister Arlene Foster yesterday stood firm in the face of calls to step aside but the row over Stormont's botched Renewable Heat Incentive scheme looks set to reignite in the new year.

Although Sinn Féin was warning of "grave consequences" if Mrs Foster acted unilaterally after the Deputy First Minister withdrew approval for an assembly statement, Martin McGuinness said last night it was important the government "find a way forward through the quite clear difficulties".

Sinn Féin saw a planned amendment to an SDLP motion to exclude the First Minister from office dismissed by speaker Robin Newton on a technicality.

It aimed to call for Mrs Foster to stand aside until at least a preliminary report of an investigation into the green energy scheme is completed but it also spelled out the terms of the party's desired judge-led probe.

In the most serious fracture in DUP-Sinn Féin relations since the signing of the Fresh Start agreement, republicans joined Stormont's opposition parties in walking out of the chamber ahead of Mrs Foster's scheduled statement on the RHI.

The DUP leader told an audience of her own MLAs and justice minister Claire Sugden that as former minister of enterprise, trade and investment, she accepted that accountability for the scheme's failings stopped with her.

"I am not immune to the considerable anger and frustration this issue has caused; not only do I understand it, I feel it too," she said.

After her statement, Mrs Foster fielded questions from her fellow DUP MLAs but notably she did not, as expected, outline plans to reduce the multi-million pound burden on Stormont's budget.

She lambasted the other parties for their walk-out and said the motion to bring her down was "doomed".

In the end, Sinn Féin made a limited contribution to the subsequent debate and did not take part in the no confidence vote.

Despite a numeric 39-to-36 victory for the motion, it was defeated on the basis that it did not have cross-community support.

Afterwards Mr McGuinness said his request to Mrs Foster to stand aside was friendly advice rather than an instruction.

And despite warning of grave consequences if the DUP leader defied Sinn Féin, the deputy first minister did not indicate the institutions were under threat.

His party is now expected to bring a substantive motion reflecting the aims of its failed amendment when the assembly resumes on January 16.

"I have been part of these institutions since the DUP came into them almost 10 years ago and we have been through some very difficult and very challenging times - and I mean really difficult and challenging times - and I think I have been to the forefront of ensuring that these institutions, that I regard as peace institutions, continued to deliver for people and continued to deliver for the peace process," Mr McGuinness said.

"So what we have to do in the time ahead is not speculate about what could be a very bad outcome. My efforts are bent towards getting a good outcome."

He added that it was imperative that public confidence in Stormont was restored.

Ulster Unionist Steve Aiken highlighted the lack of measures yesterday to mitigate the cost of the lucrative scheme.

He said the DUP leader's appearance had been trailed as the opportunity to set out a plan to recoup some of the anticipated £400m RHI overspend.

"No such plan was forthcoming today – instead we got a long-winded essay, which did not have the imprimatur of the Executive Office, again seeking to spread the blame and still refusing to take responsibility for this fiasco," he said.

"Mrs Foster regrets, but will not apologise for her role in the renewable heat scandal. She is still holding to the line that she knew nothing."

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the DUP leader no longer had the support of the assembly and criticised Sinn Féin for abstaining from the no confidence vote.

"Despite saying that Arlene Foster should stand aside, Sinn Féin couldn’t muster a single member to vote to stand her aside," he said.

"People will cast their own judgment on that particular abdication of responsibility."

Alliance leader Naomi Long said Mrs Foster had compromised the Stormont institutions by refusing to voluntarily step aside.

“This is not about any individual but the integrity of the wider institutions, and the anger, weariness and disgust people have towards them,” she said.

"However, instead of the promised ministerial statement from the first and deputy first minister on how to recover the money lost due to this botched scheme, the first minister decided to take to the floor as an individual minister, breaking her joint office, to launch broadsides against her erstwhile colleague and political opponents."