Can't see a thread on this. What are everyone else's thoughts on this issue? I am astonished she is still in her position, at least Peter Robinson had the good grace to stand down when he was being investigated.

It is almost as if NI is on a different planet, this was on the mainland Foster would have stood down as soon as the news broke. The deflecting and covering of her own ass is disgraceful.

The collapse of the assembly isn't far away IMO, the DUP seem to think they have some sort of dictatorship over the people of this country. It is about time people stopped voting green and orange and voted for what is right.

I've seen bits and bobs about this in the 'London media' but I don't really know what it's all about

My limited understanding is that they (the DUP led government) set up some scheme to subsidise energy costs and it ended up costing hundreds of millions more than they estimated

Was it cock up ?

Did any of them benefit from it, eg by being shareholders of the companies who got the money.......... in which case was it corruption ?

have I got the wrong end of the stick altogether ?

The RHI was a supposedly green initiative to encourage people to switch from coal burning to wood chip burning by paying them £1.06 for £1.00 they spent. Its similar to green initiatives across the rest of the UK with one key difference - unlike the rest of the UK, the one in NI had no upper cap on how much people could claim. The result - farmers heating empty cow sheds 24/7 and the like.

This was set up under Arlene Foster's supervision before she became FM, and known about for months, but wasn't seen as a problem because it was assumed the UK exchequer was paying the bill. When Westminster told them it would have to come out of NI's budget, the poo hit the air conditioning and is still flying around the place.

If Sinn Féin have any cop on, they'll collapse the Assembly and usher in an election.

But would that really achieve anything?

Surely people would vote much along the same lines as they did last time so you get a new Government and surprise surprise its another DUP - SF led affair

That lies in the hands of the Unionist electorate. If they return the DUP as the largest party after this debacle, which at best was gross incompetence and more likely was deliberate corruption, then Sinn Féin should consider approaching the Irish and British governments and asking them to suspend the institutions altogether.

There are other Unionist parties that could take the DUP's place in a coalition with Sinn Féin.

Thanks for the reply

I think I will view it as incompetence until anyone provides real proof of corruption. I don't really see what is in it for SF to ask for the institutions to be suspended altogether as that would then mean direct rule again, surely they don't want that.

As to other Unionists parties taking the DUP's place surely that is only the Ulster Unionist Party and they only have 14 seats compared to the DUPs 38 at present so not likely unless they make a huge surge in any upcoming election

Don't really know much about it, mostly down to the main UK media not acknowledging Northern Ireland's existence as they prefer to shine the spotlight on Nicola Sturgeon instead for some reason.

Some of the details of this look like deliberate corruption - Arlene's letters to bank managers urging loans for people wanting to buy wood burning boilers, the spike in applications for the scheme after the DUP were told that Britain wouldn't be paying for it but before it was made public, and the accusations from a DUP whistleblower that he was told to keep quiet. At the very least a public enquiry is called for.

If the DUP won't agree to an enquiry, SF should call an election. Hopefully the electorate will have the sense to punish the DUP and return the UUP as the largest party instead. If they don't, SF along with the UUP and SDLP should approach the two governments to ask for a temporary return to direct rule with a full public enquiry carried out by Westminster. Nationalists and Republicans need have no fear of direct rule in this day and age because it would have a heavy Dublin involvement.

As a collateral benefit, NI being placed under something close to joint authority at this point in history might actually benefit the whole UK - or at least NI - with the Brexit negotiations. Its a bit hard to impose punitive trade conditions on a country when a fellow member state is partially responsible for part of their territory.

It appears to be screw up and misjudgement rather than fingers-in-the-till corruption and self benefit - see http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/ne...-35292142.html

Because there's been no personal gain by Foster, I think she'll survive not least because while Sinn Fein NI are blowing quite a bit of hot air right now, they're unlikely to do anything substantive to really rock the boat since Sinn Fein have 40% of the Northern Ireland executive seats.

If you want real NI sleaze, that's the Nama scandal - http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/ne...-35028374.html

Thanks for the details. Where i would disagree is that I would have thought the prospect of Brexit negotiations would have made direct rule undesirable at least from a British viewpoint. Still you know much more about this than me and I thank you for your replies.

I shall watch to see how this develops.

You're welcome. If SF are going to walk I would expect to be within weeks, so watch this space.

It would appear the allegations relate to gross incompetence over renewable targets as opposed to corruption compounded by the fact it was assumed UK taxpayers would fund it. Foster has agreed to a proposal by SF to investigate the issue but it appears SF want her to step down while it is in progress.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38525140

There may also be questions regarding Dr Crawford, her advisor on this. But it's not just an NI issue-

http://www.thegwpf.com/subsidies-to-...e-heat-fiasco/

Objectively, it is notable that while there is an extremely vigorous political discussion in progress in Northern Ireland about £490m, there is almost no recognition in Westminster that the UK government has allowed an excess of planning consents to renewable generators to be issued, with a potential for subsidy overspending running into billions per year for decades. There is, according to the Government’s own Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) sufficient capacity to overshoot the 2020 renewable electricity target by upwards of 30%, with no subsidy budget to pay for these project and little sign that government is actively trying to discourage them.

Which likely means the subsidy costs will just get added to consumer's bills. The NI situation was made worse by any lack of oversight, capacity planning or inspection regime.

The Goverment of the UK won't suspend the assembly.

Seems to be more incompetence than corruption - it was the farmers and big firms that abused it.

When did repeated incompetence ever stop people voting Tory or Labour again and again. Gordon Brown and George Osborne have cost this country hundreds of billions of pounds - no one seems to be calling for their heads or to put them in prison

This is small beer!