Is hasn't been a good year in politics, Alliance Party leader Naomi Long, says but it's been a "particularly bad" one for the Stormont institutions, she adds.

It has been marked by allegations of "cronyism", "cock-up" and "cover-up", she says.

The East Belfast MLA points out that former first minister Peter Robinson stood down in January 2010 over a "£50,000 land deal", but that "pales into insignificance" in the shadow of the RHI scandal.

"We don't come here to support this lightly," Mrs Long says, as she appeals to Arlene Foster to "put the people of Northern Ireland first" by standing down.

"No-one should fear the truth unless they are hiding it now."

Jayne McCormack
BBC News NI

Stephen Walker
BBC News NI Political Correspondent

Steve Aiken is the first speaker for the Ulster Unionists, and he says members should "listen to the angry and increasingly frustrated voices of our constituents".

"Ministers do policy and when that policy goes wrong in normal governments they do the decent thing, or are sacked.

"The [special advisers] are sacked," the South Antrim MLA says.

Only a handful of Sinn Féin MLAs are in the chamber for this debate, and Conor Murphy rises to speak on the motion.

He says that the happenings in the chamber today have been "a very unedifying spectacle that has added to public disquiet" over the RHI scandal.

While Sinn Féin want the first minister to stand aside, the Newry and Armagh MLA says the motion before the house does not address some of the other issues in the scandal, including the roles of civil servants in the set-up of the scheme and those who benefited from it.

"It seems the day in the sun is more important than these issues," he says.

He suggests that the motion is "about a quick headbutt" to the first minister, and adds that Sinn Féin will bring its own in the new year.

Arlene Foster's DUP colleague Peter Weir is next to speak, and he says the motion is essentially about a question of leadership.

"It is not about having a perfect society in which problems don't arise, mistakes aren't made," the education minister says.

"The test of true leadership is actually in dealing with these problems."

Arlene Foster says that while "we got into this position" she will "make sure we will put it right".

She says that there will be "a full independent investigation" into the RHI scheme.

"Today, using the mandate we earned last May, we will defeat this motion," the first minister concludes to the cheers of her DUP MLAs.

Arlene Foster attacks the BBC, saying she does "expect better from public funded broadcasters when they fail to present the facts in a fair and impartial way".

"That has not, unfortunately, been the case," the first minister adds.

She says she has "listened on a daily basis to lies presented as facts, the truth distorted out of all recognition".

She says the fallout has reduced politics to "a television drama, and not a very believable one at that".

"Our people deserve better."

Stephen Walker
BBC News NI Political Correspondent

Vincent Kearney
BBC News NI Home Affairs Correspondent

There is "not a scintilla" of evidence to show that Arlene Foster has acted improperly over her role in the RHI scheme, she says.

"Although the opposition do not want to hear it," she says, she was never told of the need to introduce cost control measures to the initiative.

"The charge that I did not observe that highest standards, propriety and regularity is completely and totally baseless," she adds.

"If I am to be blamed for anything it is for accepting the professional advice that I was offered."

Arlene Foster turns on the Enterprise, Trade and Investment Committee, which approved the legislation that led to the introduction of the RHI scheme.

She points out that the initiative received "unanimous" support of both the committee and the assembly.

Stephen Walker
BBC News NI Political Correspondent

"It is not for MLAs to arrogate to themselves the role of an appeal chamber," Arlene Foster says, and she attacks their use of Section 30 of the Northern Ireland Act to bring forward the exclusion motion.

"The real truth is that this is a motion designed to fail," the first minister says.

Vincent Kearney
BBC News NI Home Affairs Correspondent

Arlene Foster says her critics are "trying to flout" assembly rules with their attempts to remove her.

They "can't gang up and kick out the elected leader of unionism", she says.

The first minister accuses them of "jockeying for position in the media spotlight", and she takes pot-shots at the leaders of the SDLP, Ulster Unionists, and the Alliance Party.

She says she is "glad" that Colum Eastwood and Mike Nesbitt "aren't very good" at opposition.

Jayne McCormack
BBC News NI

"What we have here is trial by television," Arlene Foster says, and the central charges haven't even been considered by the assembly's Public Accounts Committee.

"This debate is a fact-free zone," the first minister adds.

First Minister Arlene Foster responds to the motion of no-confidence against her, accusing the opposition parties of trying to score "cheap political points".

She says their attempt to turn the matter into a "political pantomime is a diversion", and is "nothing short of a constitutional coup d'état".

"But it is a coup d'état more worthy of a Carry On film," she adds.