SINN Féin Foyle MLA Raymond McCartney has said all schemes to meet the Executive’s targets on renewable energy must be sustainable.
He said: “It is clear this scheme has been badly handled by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment and its operation ran seriously over budget.
“I am glad, however, that following representations from Sinn Féin and others, the minister has not decided to go ahead with his original plan of shutting down the scheme immediately and instead allowed it to run for a further two weeks.
“This will allow many of the applications currently in the system to be processed.
“I would now ask the minister to instruct his department to undertake an assessment of all schemes, which have already begun to see if they can be honoured also.
“It is now important that the department take a look at the operation of this scheme and learn the lessons from it.
“There will also be a responsibility in the next mandate to develop schemes which are sustainable and need the Executive’s targets on renewable energy,” he added.