Justin McNulty of the SDLP wants to know what information the minister had about the RHI "debacle" overspend, when he received it, and what he did about it.

Máirtín Ó Muilleoir says there is "a very crowded election field today".

The minister says he is "happy that the buck stops with the architect of the RHI, and we know that's Arlene Foster".

Sinn Féin's Raymond McCartney asks about the "reputational damage" done to the assembly by "blatantly discriminatory and sectarian" decisions taken by DUP ministers.

He says there was "no humility shown today" by the DUP.

Máirtín Ó Muilleoir says it is right "that at some point you say: 'the reputation's gone, the reputation is shot', and it's time now to start anew".

The cost of division in society in raised by Alliance Party MLA Kellie Armstrong.

The Strangford representative points to the RHI scheme and its projected cost of £490m over 20 years, and says Máirtín Ó Muilleoir "seems less concerned that the cost of division is about £800m per year".

The minister says he thinks "that we are all agreed that there should be no divisions in our society".

Sinn Féin's decision to push towards an election will have a "detrimental impact on public services", DUP MLA Emma Little Pengelly says.

She says Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir's "number one duty" is to produce a budget, and she asks what his contingency plan is with no budget in place.

But Mr Ó Muilleoir hits back, saying the blame for why "credibility has drained" from Stormont is due to the DUP's conduct in the executive.

Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir faces questions on funding for the health service given the uncertainty that surrounds the political institutions.

He declines to delve too deeply into health matters, but says politics needs to be taken out of that area of governing.

The blame for the crisis rocking Stormont lies squarely at the feet of the DUP, he says, as he points to the "triple whammy of breathtaking arrogance, allegations of corruption" and a lack of commitment to the "equality agenda".

"The lessons have not yet been learned," he adds.

Jayne McCormack
BBC News NI

It's Question Time now, and Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir is first to step up to the despatch box to answer posers from MLAs on his brief.

Talkback
BBC News NI

TUV leader Jim Allister says he is "definitely" standing if an assembly election is called.

He predicts that about a dozen candidates will stand for this party.

Communities Minister Paul Givan returns to sum up on the debate and is pleased to note that it seems members will approve the regulations.

Responding to allegations that he was "party-politicking" in his earlier contribution, he says: "Of course I did - Sinn Féin have engaged in it, as has every other party."

Mr Givan attacks his ministerial colleague, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir of Sinn Féin, saying: "I was right, he was wrong."

He says Mr Ó Muilleoir's credibility "has been shot to pieces", and he adds that the "stakes are high for the very future of this assembly" with Northern Ireland moving towards an election.

The regulations to mitigate the impact of the so-called bedroom tax are passed on an oral vote.

Jayne McCormack
BBC News NI

Stormont faces collapse despite the DUP's Arlene Foster accepting her party's nomination as first minister.

Moments after she accepted the nomination, Sinn Féin refused to put forward an individual for deputy first minister.

When nominating his party colleague Mrs Foster, Lord Morrow said no one would dictate who led the DUP.

Suspended DUP MLA Jonathan Bell rises to speak in the assembly for the first time since he made his extraordinary allegations against party advisers and leader Arlene Foster over the RHI scandal last month.

He tells the assembly he will be speaking about the matter later when the cost-cutting plan is debated by MLAs.

The Strangford representative says it's "not the time for Alice in Wonderland politics" by pretending there is "money out there that you don't have".

Gareth Gordon
BBC News NI Political Correspondent

The so-called bedroom tax is is "alive and well and being imposed on the people of the north", and claims that it has been done away with are is incorrect, Eamonn McCann of People Before Profit says.

The Foyle MLA says that "the state is paying the bedroom tax for the 34,000 people that we have mentioned".

He describes the DUP and Sinn Féin as being "locked together in a loveless embrace".

Talkback
BBC News NI

BBC News Northern Ireland

Sinn Féin's Catherine Seeley has become the second of the party's MLAs to say she will not contest the likely assembly election.

Image source, Press Eye

The Upper Bann representative, who was elected last May, says she will return to her previous career as a teacher, but adds: "It has not been an easy decision to make."

Her decision comes after Sinn Féin veteran Caitríona Ruane said she would not put her name forward for re-election.

A "sham fight" between Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir and Communities Minister Paul Givan over the so-called bedroom tax was "nothing short of a disgrace", Green Party leader Steven Agnew says.

He "hates" to see politicians using the most "vulnerable for their own political ends", he says.

The North Down MLA said: "Why did we waste the opportunity to have bespoke Northern Ireland legislation that would have said no, definitively, to bedroom tax?"

BBC Newsline