Outgoing NI finance minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir has appointed Sir Patrick Coghlin, a retired former Lord Justice of Appeal, to chair the inquiry into the administration’s disastrous Renewable Heat Incentive scheme.

A huge row over the initiative was a trigger for the collapse of the power-sharing executive, prompting an election in March. The minister said: “There is an urgent need to get to the facts of the RHI scheme, to identify negligence, incompetence, alleged corruption and abuse, and to hold those responsible to account.