The DUP Minister for Economy, Simon Hamilton, plans to introduce emergency legislation which he claims will reduce the projected £490 million (€576 million) overspend in the “cash for ash” controversy to “effectively zero”.
The DUP also is seeking to recall the Assembly early from its Christmas recess next week to consider the plans Mr Hamilton and his officials have designed to try to limit the cost to the Northern Ireland taxpayer of the botched renewable heat incentive (RHI) scheme.
Mr Hamilton said on Wednesday evening that he wanted to “disincentivise the abuse of the scheme”.
He said he would soon brief Sinn Féin Minister for Finance Máirtín Ó Muilleoir on his plans.
Such proposals, if feasible, could defuse some of the tensions threatening the collapse of Stormont and the calling of a second Assembly election in less than a year.
However, Sinn Féin’s initial response was sceptical and it has continued to press for DUP leader Arlene Foster to temporarily step aside as First Minister pending the outcome of an investigation into the scheme.
Mr Ó Muilleoir said he was bemused by the “DUP announcing” its plan through the media rather than contacting him first.
Debacle’s solution
He said he was “alert to the dangers of allowing the person who was the architect of the RHI scheme – the DUP leader – to come up with a solution to this debacle”.
Mr Ó Muilleoir said every plan produced by the Department of the Economy on the issue was flawed.
“I will be guided solely by what is in the interest of the public purse. The DUP are in a hole and should stop digging.”
Almost 2,000 farmers and businesses availed of the scheme where those who switched to wood pellet burning systems are being paid £1.60 in subsidies for every £1 they spend on the eco-friendly fuel.
They entered into contracts to avail of the scheme.
Asked if his plans were legally watertight, Mr Hamilton told the BBC the proposals were being legally tested.
His department is seeking agreement from those who took up the scheme to have their names published as data protection legislation prevents the names of individuals who signed up from being disclosed.
There is argument over whether the names of firms who used the scheme can be revealed.
A number of biomass boiler owners who have formed a lobby group say they are opposed to having their names disclosed.
They are seeking legal opinion about whether or how their contracts could be altered
The Ulster Farmers’ Union also has advised its members who purchased wood burning systems under the scheme not to allow their names to be published unless audits have been carried out of their installation.
‘Frank’ encounter
The DUP and Sinn Féin remained at loggerheads on Wednesday, with Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and the Sinn Féin Minister for Health Michelle O’Neill having what was described as a “frank” encounter with Ms Foster and DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds at Stormont.
Sinn Féin used the meeting to again call for Ms Foster to stand down “without prejudice”. She again insisted she was going nowhere.
In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, Ms Foster referred to a "misogynistic" element in calls for her to stand down.
She criticised Sinn Féin’s approach to the row, pointing to MLA Declan Kearney saying the crisis had reaching a tipping point.
“No one has died, no one has been killed,” she said.
“This is part of an organisation that tried to kill my father and blew me up when I was 17. They believe I am going to roll over by stepping aside. I don’t think so.”
Politicians such as Ulster Unionist MLA Jenny Palmer and Alliance leader Naomi Long described the misogyny claim as a “nonsense” and a “diversion”.
