The Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment is proposing to shut down the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) schemes in Northern Ireland.

RHI was launched to the non-domestic sector in November 2012 and extended to the domestic sector in December 2014.

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Minister Jonathan Bell said the closing of the schemes was due to "increased demand" and the budget for new applications has been "exhausted".

He said: "To meet RHI commitments for existing installations, significant levels of additional funding will have to be found from within the NI Executive's budget for the next five years to address the current deficit.

"To prevent further overspend I must bring forward legislation to the Assembly to close both schemes to new applications."

(CD/JP)