Central Bank officials have been summoned to appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Finance today, for questioning over the Ulster Bank scandal.

The level of credit card debt, car loans, term loans and overdraft debt accumulating in this country will be outlined this afternoon by statisticians from the Central Bank.

THE Dáil has risen for an eight-week summer break and will not return until September 14.

A DISMAL opinion poll capped a humiliating 24 hours for Taoiseach Brian Cowen after he was hit with a no-confidence motion because of his role in the banking crisis.

THE head of NAMA has said a trawl through the banks’ books has revealed “a troubling picture” of how loans were secured and where there was a “reckless abandonment of basic principles” by lenders.

NAMA will have the power to get its “pound of flesh” from developers who fail to pay their debts, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has said.

THE European Central Bank has starkly warned the Government not to pay over the odds for the €90 billion of property loans it will buy from the banks.

EDUCATION Minister Batt O’Keeffe will today turn the NAMA row personal by claiming Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has a “hapless grasp” of economic issues and is an embarrassment to his own party.

THE former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, Sean FitzPatrick, is to be called to appear before an Oireachtas committee probing the bank’s meltdown.

SENIOR executives from the leading banks told an Oireachtas committee in July that they were “robust and stable”.

The Governor of the Central Bank said today that the outlook for the Irish economy is good, despite fears of a recession in the US.

THE Government was yesterday accused of encouraging a culture of increasing secrecy in its restrictive application of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act.

THE Government has created a culture of secrecy within public bodies by repeatedly trying to gag the Freedom of Information Act, it was claimed yesterday.

The Government has created a culture of secrecy within public bodies by repeatedly trying to gag the Freedom of Information Act, it was claimed today.

ARTS Minister John O'Donoghue came out strongly in favour of retaining the tax exemption for artists yesterday.

FINANCE Minister Brian Cowen yesterday said he will move in the Finance Bill to bring forward measures to punish those who facilitate white collar crime.

Recent banking scandals has forced regulator IFSRA to vet future senior executives hired in the financial services industry, it emerged tonight.

THE final nail has been driven into the Freedom of Information Act.

GOVERNMENT officials were kept in the dark over details of the compensation scheme for victims of abuse in religious institutions, it was claimed yesterday.