IS it possible to pass a law that retrospectively alters 2,000 commercial contracts? That is the implication from DUP economy minister Simon Hamilton, who has vowed to bring legislation to the assembly next week that could reduce Stormont’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) liability to zero. There is an extent to which contract law forms its own little legal universe, parallel to statute and common law. Government has always been loathe to test the limits of this for fear of deterring private sector partners. So there are few test cases to go on, while major RHI claimants have already vowed to fight back. Years of legal wrangling now seems inevitable and one of the first effects of this could be to scupper RHI investigations and the release of information because the matter is before the courts. How very unfortunate for all concerned.
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The DUP has settled on a party line over the RHI fiasco, if comments from Gregory Campbell are any guide. Speaking to the BBC, the East Londonderry MP said people want to know “how when Arlene Foster was in charge there was an underspend and how that turned into an overspend when Arlene Foster left.” In other words, the purpose of any investigation is to establish who stopped Foster saving the taxpayer money. Meanwhile, the first minister has said some of the criticism she is facing is due to “misogyny”. It is easy to disprove this in most cases by comparing her treatment to that of Peter Robinson, which was generally identical. The most notable difference is an over-familiar tendency to refer to Foster by her first name. If this is an indication of misogyny, the DUP in particular should stop doing it.
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Sinn Féin has tied itself up in knots over whether or not to call for an RHI public inquiry, as it tries to give an ungrateful Foster enough room to wriggle off the hook. Awkwardly, the republican party’s line is that public inquiries are slow, expensive, rarely add to what is known and let the guilty escape in the smoke. While all that is true, it has never stopped Sinn Féin demanding inquires before. The alternative of a quick, independent investigation looks no better. When Peter Robinson stepped down as first minister in 2010, in order to clear his name over BBC Spotlight allegations, he initiated three separate investigations including one by the executive’s departmental solicitor. This reported back within the six week window for a first ministerial resignation, finding Robinson had done nothing wrong and enabling him to return to office. Yet six years later the public has not seen this report because the executive refuses to release it, claiming: “disclosure of the withheld information would be potentially unfair to Peter Robinson, and to the wider interests of government”.
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The Irish News has obtained an official breakdown of RHI claimants by standard industrial classification (SIC). As expected, this shows that animal production is by far the largest class of beneficiary, making up 1,030 of the scheme’s 1,906 non-domestic installations. The next largest category, accommodation, has only 92 claimants. Although the breakdown continues to sectors with just one claimant, there is no mention of churches and religious organisations, which have their own SIC code. At least two churches are known to be RHI beneficiaries, including Drumcree Church of Ireland in Portadown and Hebron Free Presbyterian in Ballymoney. So why has this not shown up in the list?
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A refreshingly minor case of Stormont waste has been uncovered by the Irish News via a Freedom of Information request. Figures released by the assembly show that £81,812 was spent on alcohol over the past seven years in the five bars and restaurants inside Parliament Buildings. Most sales, £61,000-worth, were in the members’ bar and dining room. Officials and guests may also imbibe, although readers should note that the Press Bar closed in 2010. This works out at an annual total of £11,687 for our entire political establishment - less than any one journalist of legend might have been expected to get through back in the day.
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The quote of the week was in the Sunday World, which reported that Simon Hamilton has cancelled a planned relocation of his department. According to one of the 600 civil servants affected, this has cost a fortune because: “everything has to be timed perfectly so employees can start work as soon as they turn up at their new desks.”
Northern Ireland’s civil servants are of course legendary for starting work as soon as they turn up at their desks.
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A consensus seems to be emerging among Sinn Féin supporters online that an Irish language act is the price that should be extracted in any deal to spare Arlene Foster’s blushes. There is a certain irony in this demand. The centrepiece of Sinn Féin’s 2015 draft act was the right to an Irish translation of all official documents. Imagine surveying the obfuscations of the RHI story and thinking ‘what I really want is all this in my second language’.
newton@irishnnews.com
