A new test case related to the sanctions imposed on Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) participants could be heard in a Belfast court in the coming weeks.

In August, a High Court ruling quashed the need for Coleraine poultry producer Thomas Paul to repay over £53,000 in RHI payments and blocked an attempt to revoke his scheme membership.

Seven similar legal challenges by other RHI participants are also under way and it was hoped that the Thomas Paul case could set a precedent where the other cases would be reviewed without the need for costly court hearings.

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However, a paper filed by the Department for the Economy (DfE) last week states that the outcome of the Thomas Paul case is not applicable to all the other current legal challenges.

The issue surrounds the mechanisms that were used to recoup RHI payments from participants and revoke scheme memberships.

“The Department considers that the next step in the litigation will be to identify a case for hearing which covers the broadest scope of issues to include both recoupment and revocation decisions,” the DfE paper reads.

The RHI participants involved in the ongoing legal proceedings have now been approached about selecting a new test case to take forward for hearing in the High Court. A legal challenge by a Co Antrim-based machinery dealership has been suggested as being suitable.

Overall, there are understood to be around 130 incidents where RHI participants had sanctions imposed and a successful test case in court could open the possibility of many of these cases being overturned.