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The investigation lasted 111 days.
The last week of the public inquiry into NI's defective green energy program has ended with some of the most shocking revelations and headlines.
It examines what is wrong with the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) program.
It was created in 2012 to encourage the adoption of environmentally friendly heating systems – but the large subsidies left NI taxpayers with a £ 490 million bill.
BBC News NI has selected five key elements that you may have missed last week.
1. Anonymous emails are not my pride moment – Simon Hamilton
Simon Hamilton was Minister of the Economy from May 2016 until the collapse of the badembly the following year.
The 108th day of the investigation started in full force and provided an incredible amount of information to the group's understanding.
One of them was confessing that a DUP advisor had anonymously sent "explosive" emails to the media to key officials of his department, in order to relieve the party at the height of the of the RHI scandal in 2017.
Simon Hamilton, a former Stormont economy minister, said his advisor, John Robinson, had taken the necessary action.
He acknowledged that this had not been his "moment of pride" and claimed that this had been done because the DUP had been the subject of a sustained attack by his rivals policies and media about the case.
The emails indicated contacts between Stormont corporate service officials and industry representatives during the summer of 2015 about impending changes to the program to reduce its lucrative subsidies.
The Chairman of the Inquiry Committee, Patrick Coghlin, said that what Mr. Hamilton and his party had done, had used the "veil of anonymity" to transfer responsibility for the DUP to officials, whose he was responsible as minister.
2. "I did not disclose anything from RHI to the media" – Máirtín Ó Muilleoir
Máirtín Ó Muilleoir was Minister of Finance in May 2016
Another new witness on day 108 and the only figure of Sinn Féin to appear.
Máirtín Ó Muilleoir was also the minister who had set up the public inquiry into the RHI program.
He rejected DUP's claims that his party disclosed to the media information on proposals to reduce the costs of the RHI program in early 2017.
Mr. Ó Muilleoir was to approve the proposals of the Department of the Economy as Minister of Finance. Rather, he said he found it difficult to work with Mr. Hamilton's department.
He stated that there was "no evidence" that he had ever disclosed information from the economics or finance departments.
"So while he (Mr. Hamilton) says that he does not like my business style, I have respected absolute confidentiality in my own department and in the his, "he said.
3. "DUP and Sinn Féin like cats in the aisle" – Sir Patrick Coghlin
Sir Patrick Coghlin is a retired judge of the Court of Appeals and chairs the panel of three people in the investigation.
Sir Patrick Coghlin is no stranger to the intervention.
Sometimes, some of the President's comments generated their own titles, and on the 108th day he did it again.
After listening to the DUP and Sinn Féin ministers, Simon Hamilton and Máirtín Ó Muilleoir blaming each other for failures in the RHI system and devolution, Sir Patrick said the couple had been like "fighting alley cats" "One and the other.
The retired judge of the Court of Appeals stated that given the "clear threat" to public funds due to excessive spending by the regime, positive cooperation should have been established between the departments. of the economy and finance at this crucial time of January 2017.
At that time, decentralization was about to collapse as Sinn Féin was dissatisfied with the way the DUP had handled the project's fallout: the party had cut control of the institutions on January 9, 2017.
"If an ordinary member of the public whose tax money is lost here, take a step back and examine the matter with the hope that there is cooperation to try to resolve his loss of money." money, I doubt that he trusted what was going on, "said Sir Patrick.
4. "The incredible RHI warnings have not pbaded" – Dame Una O 'Brien
Dame Una O 'Brien, member of the Inquiry Commission, has extensive experience as a senior Whitehall official
The inquiry committee heard more than 100 days of oral testimony, some quite overwhelming. It was therefore surprising that the complainant in the investigation, Dame Una O. Brien, admitted that just three days before the end of the hearings, she could still be shocked by some of the emerging details.
The reason? The organization administering the RHI system did not inform Stormont several times about the possibility of this initiative being exploited.
The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) had been commissioned by the enterprise department to manage the program. It was the same in Great Britain.
On the 109th day, the investigation was made aware of an example of operating a system in England, in which sheep farmers would sell their flocks and "would earn money from cattle." "RHI money".
Dame Una stated that it was "unbelievable" that Ofgem did not send this information to officials in Northern Ireland, which could have allowed them to more quickly detect critical points.
Ofgem's executive director, Dermot Nolan, admitted that the energy regulator had not transmitted the information in a "consistent" manner.
5. "I did not blame RHI for others" – David Sterling
David Sterling has been responsible for the Public Service of Northern Ireland since the summer of 2017.
At the penultimate day of hearings, the man who heads the Public Service of Northern Ireland invited the President of the witness to dismiss the allegations that he had attempted to reproach the a colleague the problems related to the RHI program, in order to land the position of prime minister.
In 2016, when the scandal was made public, he was the permanent secretary of the finance department.
He said that a suggestion that he had tried to blame the top official of the business department, Andrew McCormick, was "totally unfair".
The following year, both were the only shortlisted candidates for the position of head of the vacant public service.
Mr. Sterling was appointed in June 2017 on an acting basis.
Mr. Sterling stated that he had known Mr. McCormick for 18 years and considered him "a friend and a colleague".
"I would absolutely refute any suggestion that I would do anything to try to blame him for responsibility, especially to try to gain personal advantage in a competition that had not even been launched."
The investigation has concluded its oral testimony, but it will take some time before the panel writes its report and any subsequent recommendations.
BBC News NI will present the latest developments in the RHI debacle as they occur.
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