The inquiry considers an email sent from Andrew Crawford (below) to Mr Cairns towards the end of July 2015.

Dr Crawford received the July submission from Mr Cairns.

He responds, saying that DETI had received a spike in the number of applications over the last number of months as a result of Moy Park suppliers buying biomass boilers for the RHI scheme before the end of the last tax year.

What Mr Scoffield is most interested in is Dr Crawford's prediction that there will be a large spike in applications towards the end of 2015.

"The word on the street is that there’s going to be massive changes in October and you’re going to get a spike in applications before this date. Basically, the vast majority of people who are going to convert will already have done so," reads the email.

RHI Inquiry Copyright: RHI Inquiry

He adds: "I’m a little confused what the problem is with the non-domestic scheme. The scheme is being funded from AME (annually managed expenditure from HM Treasury), therefore if we go over our 4% target we will get more than our fair share of the UK pot. I would have thought that this was to NI’s advantage, bearing in mind that we’re likely to opt out of the CFD (Contracts for Difference) scheme in a couple of years and may not incentivise renewable generation after this date.

"I suspect the problem is that that we only have a guarantee of money for a couple of years and long term, we may have to pay for the scheme out of the NI block. We’ll check this out with DFP, but it’s something you might want to query."