Summary

  • Renewable Heat Incentive Inquiry examining botched energy scheme

  • Enterprise department civil servant Stuart Wightman gives evidence

  • Inquiry set up after public concern over scheme's huge projected overspend

  • Retired Court of Appeal judge Sir Patrick Coghlin chairing inquiry at Stormont

  • Public evidence sessions expected to last until well into 2018

Live Reporting

Robin Sheeran and Iain McDowell

  1. RHI scheme - the fallout

    When the scale of the overspend emerged, public and political concern rocketed.

    As the minister in charge of the Stormont department that set up the RHI scheme, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Arlene Foster faced calls to resign from her role as Northern Ireland's first minister in December 2016.

    Arlene Foster and MArtin McGuinnessPress Eye

    She resisted, and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness then quit as deputy first minister in protest at the DUP's handling of what had by then become a full-blown political crisis.

    That move brought about the collapse of the Northern Ireland Executive. Now, more than a year on from that, Northern Ireland remains without a devolved administration.

    You can find much more detail on the RHI scheme in our need-to-know guide.

  2. RHI scheme - the flaws

    The budget of the RHI scheme ran out of control because of critical flaws in the way it was set up.

    Claimants could effectively earn more money the more fuel they burned because the subsidies on offer for renewable fuels were far greater than the cost of the fuels themselves.

    Burning £20 notes

    The most recent estimate for the overspend was set at £700m, if permanent cost controls aren't introduced.

    The massive overspend bill will have to be picked up by the Northern Ireland taxpayer.

  3. RHI scheme - what was it?

    The Renewable Heat Incentive scheme - or RHI for short - came to the fore of the Northern Ireland public's knowledge in late-2016... and the fallout from the scandal attached to it is still being felt in the region's politics today.

    The scheme was set up by the Northern Ireland Executive in 2012, as a way of encouraging businesses to switch from using fossil fuels to renewable sources for generating their heat.

    Those who signed up were offered financial incentives to buy new heating systems and the fuel to run them.

    A biomass boilerGetty Images

  4. Good morning

    Thanks for joining us for our live coverage of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) Inquiry.

    Stormont's Parliament BuildingsReuters

    Today we'll be hearing from Stuart Wightman, who was a civil servant at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) during the running of the RHI scheme.

    He had a pretty hands-on role, so he's booked in for an all-day session to answer questions, and proceedings will begin shortly.