The decision not to burn senior bondholders has been proven right, the European Commission has said, confirming it agreed with the ECB’s decision at the time of Ireland’s €62bn bailout.

The Taoiseach’s recent claims about deploying the Army to man ATMs at the height of the banking crisis appear to be true. So what would such a situation entail, asks Tom Clonan

A senior European Commission official has denied the commission, as member of the Troika, tried to “manoeuvre, push or threaten” Ireland to accept the November 2010 bailout, despite arguing the controversial move was “inevitable”.

A senior economist who attended the infamous Brian Cowen-Anglo golf outing and was the only expert the then taoiseach called on the night of the guarantee has insisted he had no role in decisions about the firm.

The Oireachtas banking inquiry will tomorrow question former taoiseach Bertie Ahern on whether he knew Ireland’s banks were facing economic collapse before the May 2007 general election and his resignation one year later.

Former taoiseach Brian Cowen gave his version of the September 2008 bank guarantee and November 2010 bailout crises. This is an abridged version:

The head of the banking inquiry has written to all national media outlets warning journalists they face criminal prosecution if any leaked witness statements are published before they are officially made public.

Former taoiseach Brian Cowen is expected this week to back previous suggestions that Ireland was “bounced” into a bailout.

Brian Cowen attended a private Anglo Irish function a month after the St Patrick’s Day 2008 Irish stock exchange crisis and a fortnight before becoming taoiseach, but insisted he was never lobbied for a bank guarantee.

The infamous “soft landing” prediction for the stumbling Irish economy was not based on any specific analysis or internal Department of Finance reports.

Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen will claim he did not force then finance minister Brian Lenihan to include Anglo Irish and Irish Nationwide in the controversial 2008 bank guarantee at a hotly anticipated bank inquiry meeting this week.

Where was Johnny Logan when his country needed him most, asks Michael Clifford.

Senior Department of Finance officials made “discreet” inquiries about how Ireland could enter a bailout as early as October 2008, the banking inquiry has heard.

Stunning state pensions for Ahern and Cowen, but just statutory redundancy for the Clerys workers turfed out of the building like trash in a feat of financial twisting that was perfectly legal, but morally appalling, writes Shaun Connolly

Much of the time the Oireachtas banking inquiry seems to take on the character of a whodunnit, writes Michael Clifford

TWO sobering but illustrative events played out simultaneously yesterday. Each showed how powerless democratically elected, supposedly sovereign, governments can be in the face of unflinching international creditors or too-big-to-fail banks tottering towards collapse asking — demanding if you prefer — that they be rescued with public funds.

Then taoiseach Brian Cowen set up a “secret” group to examine a possible bank guarantee months before it happened — and as bankers and billionaires were actively lobbying for the move.

Former finance minister Brian Lenihan was “very strongly” of the view Anglo Irish Bank should be nationalised and left out of the €440bn blanket bank guarantee, before a crunch private “chat” with then- taoiseach Brian Cowen caused a dramatic change of mind.

Gardaí are set to investigate the high-profile leaking of detailed bank inquiry evidence from former Department of Finance secretary general Kevin Cardiff in a move which could potentially see the person responsible fined €500,000 or jailed for a maximum of five years.

The Oireachtas Banking Inquiry is to contact the Gardaí over the leak of hundreds of pages of privileged evidence.

The row between then taoiseach Brian Cowen and his finance minister, Brian Lenihan, on the night of the bank guarantee concerned whether or not to include Anglo Irish Bank in the cover, the banking inquiry will be told on Thursday.

Concerns have been raised over a deliberate attempt to “undermine” the Oireachtas banking probe following a major leak of evidence.

IRELAND’S member of the European Court of Auditors Kevin Cardiff was in charge of the Department of Finance unit that had oversight of banks on that fateful, generation-defining and expensive night — September 29th/30th 2008, “guarantee night” as it has become known.

Former taoiseach Brian Cowen “already had a preference” for a “broad” bank guarantee before the infamous September 29, 2008, meeting which led to the multi-billion euro deal — and overruled then finance minister Brian Lenihan’s concerns.

Ireland will need to turn to "bailed out" Nama developers to tackle our escalating housing crisis, despite the fact the vast majority have failed to repay billions of euro they still owe to the State.

Former taoisigh Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen, along with senior officials from the Department of Finance during the Celtic Tiger era, will be grilled by the Oireachtas banking inquiry in July.

Up to 90% of the “€100bn plus” debt and “hardship” heaped on Ireland after the economic crash was destined to happen, regardless of the bank guarantee.

The Government should have nationalised Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide in September 2008, replaced the management teams, and put in place a much more limited guarantee for the two banks, Central Bank governor Patrick Honohan has told the Oireachtas banking inquiry.

The taxpayer may have to pay up to €181m for wrongful claims made by farmers from the EU’s agriculture fund.

Close to €500m of EU funds spent on fish farms was largely wasted, according to a report highly critical of the sector.

Almost 1,200 Waterford Crystal workers appear to be on the verge of finally receiving €250m worth of pension entitlements for which they have been fighting for the last five years.

There are big gaps in keeping account of what happens the EU’s €140bn a year budget and it is time the auditing system was overhauled and extended, according to a report from the European Court of Auditors.

One of the glaring gaps in the current arrangement in the civil service is the absence of a performance management system for secretaries general, writes Kevin Rafter

The ‘exiting’ of top civil servants must stop, writes Political Reporter Juno McEnroe

THOSE are some waves that Maurice McCabe made. Yesterday’s publication of the review of the Department of Justice is just one in a long line of outcomes from McCabe’s persistence in attempting to highlight wrongdoing in An Garda Síochána.

"Frank assessments of the dynamic within the civil service coming directly from those currently charged with watching over it are rare."

WHERE did it all go wrong? The government elected with the largest majority in the history of the State hasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of being re-elected.

The first secretary-general of the Department of Finance recruited from outside the ranks of the civil service has resigned after only 18 months in the position.

One of the top civil servants in the Government has resigned after less than a year and a half at the head of the Department of Finance.

Almost a year after the European Court of Justice ruled in their favour and five years after they lost their jobs, former workers at Waterford Crystal have still not received tens of thousands of euro in pension entitlements to which the court said they were entitled.

A senior Department of Finance official was told in July 2008 that there could be some lending by Anglo Irish Bank to buy its own shares but that it would be “short term”.

Labour MEP Nessa Childers has written to Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore confirming her resignation from the party.