Senior civil servant was advised to tell Moy Park of RHI competition concern

Andrew McCormick, the most senior official in the department running RHI, met Moy Park in February 2016 – just before the scheme was shut.

In a detailed briefing note drawn up for him by fellow officials, he was advised to tell the company that the minister had “no choice” but to shut RHI because even funding existing RHI commitments could mean “as much as £100m may have to be funded from resources available to the Executive (on top of the allocations from Treasury) over the next five years”.

Dr McCormick was advised to say: “I recognise the benefits that the RHI brings to the poultry industry with biomass heating in broiler houses providing a much healthier environment for the chickens.”

However, in a message which appeared to elliptically hint at departmental concern that the scheme might be funnelling so much money to poultry that it could be in conflict with EU state aid law, Dr McCormick’s notes went on: “I would be concerned, however, if the industry was reliant on RHI payments to be competitive.”

He was advised to ask the company some questions, including “what does Moy Park think of allegations of abuse?”

He was also told: “Apparently, the heating requirements of a poultry house in NI can be considerably higher than other parts of the UK. The RHI helps address this. So without the NI RHI, Moy Park will argue that biomass heating systems are simply unaffordable for its producers and whilst the GB RHI scheme remains open, they will have a commercial disadvantage.

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