Stephen Farry of the Alliance Party says there will be a talks process following the elections and that there is a need for change to the structures of devolution.

These are "the structures that have been holding us back over the past number of years," he says.

DUP MLA Pam Cameron defends her party's refusal to sign up to the Good Friday Agreement, particularly in the light of some who did sign up.

"They were peacemakers in public, but remained wedded to paramilitarism in private," she says.

Whoever the MLAs are that are elected to the assembly in March, they must "start governing and start offering effective opposition", UUP leader Mike Nesbitt says.

His assessment of the past 10 years of politics in Northern Ireland is that the DUP and Sinn Féin have not put in enough effect to achieve the tolerance and mutual trust.

"Let's get back to the values and principles of the agreement," he concludes.

Mutual respect, equality and parity of esteem are the core principles of the Good Friday Agreement, says Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly.

But "obstacles [are] continually put in place" by unionists and the government, he adds.

There needs to be a belief as well as a commitment to the principles, he says, and without political will agreements "will fall".

"For political unionists, the question is will they eventually step up to the plate?"

"I want us to use devolution to improve the lives of the people we were sent here to represent," DUP MLA Christoper Stalford says.

Mr Stalford says that those who talk about the values of the agreement should remember "the destruction of the RUC".

He says the 50/50 police recruitment policy meant that "Protestants were the only people it was legal to discriminate against in the whole of the European Union".

"I turned 18 the year of the referendum [on the Good Friday Agreement]," says Green Party leader Steven Agnew.

He recalls political discussion around the family dinner table and the sense of "genuine engagement".

The North Down MLA says it is not enough to go back to the values and principles of the agreement.

Instead, he proposes an amendment to the motion, one that calls for a constitutional convention "to review, reform and revitalise" the Good Friday Agreement, and he expresses his admiration of the Irish constitutional convention, which he took part in.

He contrasts that to "the dodgy deals" typified by the Fresh Start Agreement of 2015.

Still a fair bit of business to get through this evening, with two private members' motions up for debate.

The first of those comes from the SDLP, which calls on the UK and Irish governments to "convene all-party talks to identify how to affirm and promote the values and principles" of the Good Friday Agreement.

"Real damage has been done to the concept and the practice of the Good Friday Agreement, particularly in the last 10 years," SDLP MLA Colin McGrath tells the assembly.

The South Down representative says Sinn Féin has "panicked and gone for an election" that could "give London more power here to do their worst".

"We cannot allow Sinn Féin or the DUP to do any more damage to the democratic will of the people of Ireland and to her agreement."

Infrastructure Minister Chris Hazzard brings the draft Grants to Water and Sewerage Undertakers Order (Northern Ireland) 2017, external to the house.

It extends the payment made to water and sewerage services provider Northern Ireland Water in lieu of water charges.  

Mr Hazzard says the executive is determined not to introduce water charges for a further five years, and the motion passes on an oral vote.

Wrapping up the debate on his RHI cost rescue plan, Simon Hamilton he says the process has not been ideal.

"The imminent dissolution of this assembly has necessitated the approach that I have adopted," the economy minister says.

He tells MLAs that it is a "simple" choice: "The house can support these regulations or they can permit up to £30m to be lost to the Northern Ireland budget next year."

The draft Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017, external are backed unopposed on an oral vote.

There is an "overriding public interest" in publishing the names of business beneficiaries of the RHI scheme, Simon Hamilton says.

Many of the claimants of the scheme have told the Department of the Economy that they do not want their details to be made public, but the economy minister says it is his intention to publish the details on Wednesday.

Image source, Getty Images

Doing so, he says, will reveal that "members and supporters of many parties in this assembly" have links to the initiative, and he points to a declaration by the UUP today that some of its members have ties to the green energy scheme.

"It will show that it isn't just, as some would seek to portray it, DUP members or supporters that are benefitting from the scheme," he says.

Simon Hamilton has "taken extensive legal advice" on his RHI cost-cutting plan, he tells the assembly.

The regulations are "consistent with the well-stated original intention of the scheme in terms of the rate of return", he says, but the excessive returns that some RHI scheme beneficiaries are not a "legitimate expectation".

The economy minister says it is clearly the case that there is a "public interest override", and "when we're losing between £20m and £30m to the Northern Ireland budget I think there is a clear public interest for this assembly to act in that way that I'm advising".

There is a "clear imbalance between public and private interests", he explains.

Economy Minister Simon Hamilton rises to respond to the debate and says his plans to cut the cost of the RHI scheme have yet to be approved by Stormont's Department of Finance.

Failure of the department to rubber-stamp the plan "could be unlawful", he says.

Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir (above) enters the chamber and says concerns remain that the EU has yet to give its backing to the scheme in line with state aid rules.

The Sinn Féin minister says he also has reservations because he has yet to receive a business plan for an inspection regime of RHI installations.

He vows that his assessment of the mitigation plan will be "politics-free" and when he does sign-off on it he will be able to say that it "stacks up financially, stacks up legally and will be implemented".

Replying to an intervention from the SDLP's Sinéad Bradley, Mr Allister says it is "very disappointing that the finance minister [Máirtín Ó Muilleoir], who has a very critical role in this, has ignored the house on this issue."

"I read on Twitter today that he indicates that he's still not happy with these proposals," he goes on.

"Well, why are we not being told that in this house?" he asks.

Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister questions whether the proposals are "a fig leaf, or are they a solution, even a temporary solution".

"I hope they are the latter, but I fear they are the former," he says.

The North Antrim MLA says the regulations being brought to address the "omnishambles" of the RHI are merely designed to give the impression that something is being done about it.

He pays tribute to investigative journalists at the BBC, the News Letter and the Irish News, saying that without their efforts the matter would have continued to be "swept under the carpet".

A "perception that RHI was a racket" has "contributed to a perception that Stormont itself is a racket", Eamonn McCann says.

"We might've thought a couple of months back that it couldn't have got any deeper or any darker but it just has," he goes on.

"We need a different type of politics," the People Before Profit MLA tells the assembly, "in which the interests of the people come first."

If Northern Ireland does not get that after the assembly election on 2 March, it is "doomed to go through this little circle of hell yet again", the veteran socialist concludes, with his arms windmilling around his head.

"Just a few weeks ago," Eamonn McCann says, DUP and Sinn Féin MLAs looked across the chamber at each other "doe-eyed".

"Now they're looking daggers," the People Before Profit MLA says.

He praises investigative journalists, including the BBC's Stephen Nolan, the News Letter's Sam McBride (above) and Allison Morris of the Irish News among others, who have delved into the RHI scandal and uncovered its details.

"They've given far better service than given by some people in parties in here in recent weeks," he says.

The Foyle MLA hits out at the DUP for "some of the remarks about the media" that came from its benches, adding that they "reminded me of a Donald Trump press conference".

Economy Minister Simon Hamilton will be solely responsible for the RHI cost-cutting plan, Alliance Party leader Naomi Long tells the assembly.

"No amount of buck-passing, muck-throwing or ducking or responsibility will change that fact," she says.

"There are his proposals, they came from his department, he is responsible for them."

Mrs Long notes the economy department's top civil servant Andrew McCormick's comments that the proposals being debated were originated by a special adviser, and points out that he said the adviser "was not the minister's special adviser".

The East Belfast MLA says this "adds weight to the perception that it is the special advisers who are in charge of the ministers, rather than the ministers being in charge of the departments".

Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy says the solution is not the "full and comprehensive solution that was tailed in the media" by the former first minister Arlene Foster.

He insists it is "severely flawed" and is still dependent on approval from the EU based on its compatibility with state aid rules.

The Newry and Armagh MLA says the assembly needs confidence that the "DUP's fingerprints are not on this plan".

It is a "hotch-potch, which may or many not deliver as promised", and therefore Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir must have a key oversight of its implementation in order to "stop that runaway train [of public money] dead in its tracks", Mr Murphy adds.

It is a "long, long way short of restoring any degree of public confidence", he concludes.

Economy Minister Simon Hamilton's proposals to cut the cost of the RHI scheme must be "more than a pre-election panic measure in the hope that the public will forget the incompetence and the arrogance response to this scandal", UUP MLA Philip Smith says.

The key question surrounding the plan, he says, is how legally sound it is, "or will it fall at the first legal challenge".

Mr Smith says his party's suggestion of a windfall tax on RHI scheme installations "is the best method for recouping the excess cost while minimising the potential for legal challenge", and he asks if the minister his considered such a measure.

The "so-called solution", he concludes, is "half-baked" and "produced in haste", but the Strangford MLA says his party will not stand in the way of the measures "in the hope that the waste can be curtailed".

The DUP's Edwin Poots says some MLAs want to see the RHI scheme money go up in smoke "because we can then continue to blame the DUP".

He stands up for the integrity of those who signed up for the RHI scheme.

"People who installed woodchip boilers are not criminals, they are not rogues, they are not thieves, not murderers," he says.

The Lagan Valley MLA says that a vote in favour of the proposals would be "a demonstration that this assembly means business".

Gareth Gordon
BBC News NI Political Correspondent

The Ulster Unionist Party says an aunt and uncle of its Mid Ulster MLA Sandra Overend have a business that is a claimant under the RHI scheme.

Image source, Press Eye

And former UUP MLA Neil Somerville has a wood pellet boiler under the scheme in his family business, the party reveals.

The party says it is contacting a small number of councillors by the end of today who failed to respond to a request asking them if they benefited directly from the RHI scheme.