RHI inquiry: key details on scheme not given to committee, says MLA

The former chairman of the Assembly committee which scrutinised the RHI scheme regulations before they became law has told of his anger at now realising that significant information which could have alerted the MLAs to the scheme's flaws was never shown to them.
Patsy McGlone, the former chairman of Stormont's Enterprise Trade and Investment (ETI) Committee - which was tasked with scrutinising proposed legislation for the RHI scheme - said government officials never advised members about the less costly option.Patsy McGlone, the former chairman of Stormont's Enterprise Trade and Investment (ETI) Committee - which was tasked with scrutinising proposed legislation for the RHI scheme - said government officials never advised members about the less costly option.
Patsy McGlone, the former chairman of Stormont's Enterprise Trade and Investment (ETI) Committee - which was tasked with scrutinising proposed legislation for the RHI scheme - said government officials never advised members about the less costly option.

Patsy McGlone, who chaired the committee which scrutinised the work of Arlene Foster’s Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI), yesterday became the first politician to appear before Sir Patrick Coghlin’s public inquiry into the cash for ash scandal.

The SDLP MLA said that his committee was never told that there was a far cheaper alternative to RHI which at that point was estimated to save taxpayers about £300 million, something which he said would certainly have led to questions from MLAs if it had been mentioned.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

That, he said, was “one of a number of items that I’m very surprised about” after hearing the evidence which has already emerged at the inquiry.

Patsy McGlone giving evidence to the RHI inquiry on WednesdayPatsy McGlone giving evidence to the RHI inquiry on Wednesday
Patsy McGlone giving evidence to the RHI inquiry on Wednesday

He said that they were being “consistently told that it was a very successful scheme” and that he had been given no warning of the calamitous budget situation “until it was literally squeezed out of them”.

In a written statement to the inquiry, the Mid Ulster MLA said that even in November 2015, when the department knew that the scheme was catastrophically out of control and was asking for permission to belatedly put in cost controls, the committee was not being given candid factual information by the department.

Referring to the key committee hearing where Stuart Wightman, a DETI official, had come to explain why the cost controls were being introduced, Mr McGlone said: “There was to my recollection nothing in this presentation which suggested to me that these controls were out of the ordinary run of DETI business.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The committee had previously been advised of an uptake in the RHI scheme somewhat higher than that in GB at equivalent times, but it was not suggested that the change to the scheme in this statutory rule was a matter of urgency – indeed the SL1 [the formal documentation which accompanied the legislation] clearly referred to the RHI scheme’s ‘recent success’ ... the briefing to my mind suggested that there was nothing to worry about.”

Patsy McGlone giving evidence to the RHI inquiry on WednesdayPatsy McGlone giving evidence to the RHI inquiry on Wednesday
Patsy McGlone giving evidence to the RHI inquiry on Wednesday

He added: “I do not consider this term to have been accurate. If, as seems likely, DETI was at this point aware that its commitments to the RHI scheme were either uncontrollable or quickly becoming uncontrollable, to refer to ‘recent success’ was likely to mislead the committee.”

He said that officials had not given the committee critical information, particularly around the risks involved with the RHI scheme, leaving him “frustrated and very angry” when he looks back on what happened.

Dr Keith MacLean, the technical assessor to the inquiry, said that from Mr McGlone’s evidence it seemed that the Assembly’s committees are “entirely reliant on full disclosure to you by the department of the relevant information” rather than proactively seeking out information themselves.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr McGlone agreed with that, saying that he expected officials to give committees facts “with knowledge and professionalism”.

The former SDLP deputy leader was asked whether on the basis of the information which it did have the committee should have queried why tiering – a crude form of cost control – was not being included.

David Scoffield QC for the inquiry asked about “the extent of the probing of this issue, if any” by the committee.

Mr McGlone said that at this stage he wasn’t sure whether any questions had been raised by the committee about the issue.

Related topics: