We are governed by people who did not have the sense to adopt a scheme as economical as RHI

Or even, perhaps surprisingly given that they were actively promoting the RHI scheme, Stormont and its multifarious government departments and agencies, or even the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland’s official residence.

The real RHI scandal then is that apparently we’re being governed and administered by a class of people who were made aware of an economical and environmentally-friendly heating scheme over the course of several years, but they didn’t have the sense to lock in these benefits for their own departments and agencies and save NI taxpayers a small fortune over twenty years.

There is also the very real danger that due to the alleged fraudulent abuse of the RHI scheme by some people the proverbial baby will be thrown out with the bath water and the RHI scheme discarded instead of being fixed.

Moreover, if the level of alleged fraud is as great as has been reported to date then through closing down these alleged fraudsters the cost of the existing RHI scheme will be brought back under control and may once again become sustainable.

And so with the benefit of hindsight we now have the opportunity to design and promote a sustainable and environmentally-friendly indigenous energy supply to provide energy security for the next twenty years.

Bernard J. Mulholland, Malone Road, Belfast BT9