Debate contribution: RHI (Closure of Non-Domestic Scheme) Bill: Final Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Pádraig Delargy on 12 May 2026.

MLA: Mr Pádraig Delargy
Party at the time: Sinn Féin
Date: 12 May 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Executive Committee Business
Heading: RHI (Closure of Non-Domestic Scheme) Bill: Final Stage
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5528288

Text

I support the Bill, which will finally see the closure of the renewable heat incentive scheme. The scheme began when I was still at school. I say that to highlight the longevity of the issue and the long shadow that it has cast over politics here. I say it also to highlight the fact that successive DUP Ministers failed to address its legacy and the fact that, once again, a Sinn Féin Minister has had to step in to clear up the mess and deal with the incompetence and economic illiteracy of the DUP in the Department for the Economy. People across the North will rightly remember the anger that RHI caused. People will remember that, when budgets and front-line services were under pressure — they remain so — we saw the ineptitude of the party opposite in addressing a clearly shambolic scheme that has continued to impact on people here. Spectacularly, the scheme allowed participants to earn as they burned. For every £1 that a participant spent, they received a £1·60 return. Basic mathematics would have told you that, from its inception, that formula would not work. The flawed scheme allowed participants to burn excessive amounts of fuel in order to get a higher financial return, which, in itself, is very much at odds with the principles of climate action and the need to improve energy efficiency. Those failures occurred on the watch of the DUP Ministers who held responsibility for the Department for the Economy. During their tenure, warnings were dismissed, and opportunities to intervene were ignored, with the result that the scheme was allowed to spiral out of control and a financial scandal was allowed to take place. A whistle-blower pointed out that, in one case, over the 20-year lifetime of the scheme, a farmer could have made £1 million simply by heating an empty shed. The Audit Office, which was scathing about the scheme, highlighted that a business in Britain might receive £192,000 in subsidy, whereas the same business here would earn £860,000.
Taken together, it is estimated that, by 2036, that will amount to an overspend of more than £400 million — money that will fall to the Executive and, ultimately, to the taxpayer.
The investigation afterwards spelled it out: controls were weak, decisions were taken that should never have been signed off and basic governance was missing. The cost to the public purse and to trust in politics was avoidable, so closing the scheme properly matters. When the DUP held the Economy portfolio, those issues were not gripped early enough and the waste continued. People looking in from the outside saw delay and excuses. The DUP thought that because the funding was AME, it could do whatever it wanted — it could fill its boots. Worryingly, the economically illiterate DUP still does not understand how AME works. Recently, both its party leader and the Chair of the Economy Committee mistakenly claimed that the £81 million for an electricity discount scheme could be repurposed. The Treasury has had to write repeatedly to tell them that AME funding can only be used for a comparable scheme. With a Sinn Féin Minister now in post, we are finally beginning to bring this to an end on the basis of transparency, oversight and value for money. For a long time, RHI became shorthand for what happens when government gets the basics wrong. It cost money, damaged trust and left people asking who was in charge. I welcome the Minister's work on this and the concern to get the Bill to its Final Stage. The Minister has shown the focus and drive that is needed to resolve a scheme that, in practice, advantaged a small number while the wider public carried, and have continued to carry, the cost. The Bill is part of putting that right. It shows what it looks like when the Department is run by a Minister with clear priorities, openness, accountability and an approach to the economy that works for everyone. The Department has reviewed what remained, fixed long-standing issues and strengthened oversight. The Bill represents the final step and gives certainty and closure, while keeping the balance right between scheme participants and the taxpayer. Crucially, closing RHI does not mean walking away from renewable heat or from future support schemes. Rather, it means learning from what went wrong so that any future programme is properly designed, costed and policed. The purpose here is straightforward; it is to protect public money and make sure that the Department can finish the remaining administrative work in a fair and transparent way. That includes final payments where they are due and compliance checks where those are needed. The Bill is about closure and protecting the public interest. It draws a clear line under a scheme that should never have been allowed to run as it did. I support the Final Stage of the Bill.

816 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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