Arlene Foster’s ex-spad had close links to Moy Park – and did not formally declare conflict of interest

The briefer was the then DUP spad Andrew Crawford.

Three minutes later, Mr Mullan emailed someone called Matt, whose full name has been blacked out by the inquiry, to say: “I understand that the RHI will soon be closed. Hopefully your scheme is already approved. If not, I urge haste.”

The following day, as the firm discussed how to maximise the commercial value of the information given to it by the DUP spad, Moy Park manager David Mark calculated that if the scheme stayed open until March they could get up to 200 boilers installed and that if they could delay RHI closure until August “we would really sweep everything up”.

Asking Mr Mark to consider “what we would want them to do”, Mr Mullan made clear his intent to lobby the DUP, saying: “Then we could go up and see Mr Crawford!”

Mr Mark said they would see “what if any influence we can exert to soften the blow”.

The RHI Inquiry did not criticise Moy Park – but it did criticise Dr Crawford for some of his interactions with the firm.

Referring to Dr Crawford’s actions in relation to Moy Park’s interests, the inquiry found that “related to a very substantial commercial enterprise for which he appeared, at times, to be a key personal point of contact within the Northern Ireland Executive and with which members of his family were involved”.

The inquiry found that Dr Crawford “had close links to the poultry industry” – an industry in Northern Ireland which is almost exclusively under Moy Park’s control.

The inquiry found that Dr Crawford had wrongly removed a reference to the poultry industry’s role in driving the spike in applications which overwhelmed the scheme – even though it was factually correct – and that he had not formally declared that he had a conflict of interest in the matter.

The inquiry also found that “Dr Crawford’s suggestions [to keep the scheme more generous for those with high heat needs at the point where it was out of control]...were aimed at benefiting poultry farmers and, indirectly, Moy Park, an organisation that dominated the industry in Northern Ireland, an industry in which Dr Crawford’s family were clearly involved”.

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