The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) has slammed the NI government for 'acting unlawfully' over the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme following a High Court case.
Attempts to recoup more than £50,000 awarded to a poultry farmer under the failed scheme were quashed by the High Court on Thursday (31 August).
The UFU said that approximately 130 participants of the RHI would be impacted by the outcome of yesterday's hearing.
The union said the DfE [Department for Economy] had 'acted unlawfully' in its attempt to recover £50,000 from farmer Thomas Paul, who is involved in the scheme.
Set up to encourage businesses to switch to greener wood pellet burning systems, the scheme was put in the spotlight when the potential cost to taxpayers came to light.
It became known as the 'cash for ash' scandal as subsidies were more expensive than fuel costs, eventually leading to the collapse of the Northern Ireland Executive in 2017.
Now the UFU is urging members to seek legal advice as many farmers "will be impacted by this outcome".
The union's president, David Brown said yesterday's High Court ruling on the RHI case was 'outrageous'.
"It is almost a dead cert that there are cases of a similar nature, where participants have been made to repay money because they were allegedly abusing the scheme," he said.
“For many years, UFU members who entered the RHI scheme endured suspicion and have had accusations thrown at them.
"Innocent parties were wrongly ejected from the scheme and forced to repay subsidies like the poultry farmer who contested the sanctions imposed on him which exposed the unlawful behaviour of DfE."
Mr Brown said vindication was now needed for those members who were "wrongly tarred with the same RHI brush of fraudulent behaviour".
“Prior to this court hearing we raised questions about DfE’s competence, capacity and capability to manage the scheme," he added.
"These were wrongly dismissed but now there is no doubt about DfE’s competence – it is completely shot.
“The RHI scandal is a huge setback for renewables in Northern Ireland and there is a strong case to be made for ‘levelling up’ support for green energy here."
