Banking inquiry members have given a guarded welcome to their drastically cut-back report into what caused the economic crash amid claims the Government may seek new powers to beef up investigations if it fails to meet public demand.

Crisis-hit bank inquiry members will have their first chance to examine a last-ditch reworking of the report into what caused the economic crash tomorrow, amid ongoing concerns it will fail to meet public demands.

The chairman of the banking inquiry has ruled out any so-called ‘minority’ report being part of the probe, as members scramble to bring the investigation back from the brink of collapse.

Cork developer and Elysian builder Michael O’Flynn has controversially claimed Nama “demonised” his profession and insisted developers “did not cause” the crash.

An independent senior counsel has been appointed to lead an investigation into claims that some banking inquiry witnesses received “preferential” treatment and allegedly met an investigator for dinner days before being questioned over their role in the crash.

Bertie Ahern has staunchly defended his time as taoiseach, claiming the infamous Galway Tent was “no big deal”, that he never believed a property bubble existed, and that no one told him Ireland was facing boom or bust.

One of Ireland’s wealthiest boom-time developers and key Anglo customers has insisted “I too lost” because the crash forced him to emigrate to Switzerland and Abu Dhabi to repay debts.

Brian Cowen’s appearance at the banking inquiry yesterday was more assured than last week but his testimony showed a serious lack of curiosity at times during the crisis, writes Michael Clifford.

A draft government press release announcing a blanket bank guarantee was drawn up a full six hours before the deal was even agreed.

Former financial regulator Patrick Neary has pointed the “finger of responsibility” at government, the Central Bank, financial institutions, the ESRI, and Europe for what politicians have said was his own failure to do his job.

A former junior finance minister who became a lobbyist for the construction industry months after losing his seat has denied that firms were too close to politicians during the boom.

The Oireachtas banking inquiry did not sit in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham yesterday. It did not hear from a witness by the name of Jean Claude Trichet, the former head of the European Central Bank (ECB).

“There is an outpouring of love and helplessness,” said Mourneabbey-born Fr Seán Corkery as he tried to sum up the feelings of a small tight-knit community experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions as news filtered back from Glasgow that police had officially identified Karen Buckley’s body.

The European Commission’s chief banking regulator has insisted the pan-continental group was not responsible for Ireland’s economic crash, saying it is not its job to ensure governments implement the body’s regulation guidelines.

Nyberg kicks up some uncomfortable truths

Your recent editorial ‘Democracy is being demeaned’ (Irish Examiner, June 17) is to the point, and perhaps more importantly — an honest re-run of the farcical developments evolving to date in the setting up of the banking inquiry.

The banking inquiry is at the centre of a major political row ahead of its first meeting scheduled for this week, with Fianna Fáil urging senior ministers to withdraw "misleading" accusations that it engaged in a "political stroke" to nominate a member to the committee.

It’s almost two years to the day — June 26 — since the great scriptwriter Nora Ephron died. She was the creator of Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and Julie & Julia — and many other wonderfully light pieces that looked at our endless foolishness with kindness and good humour.

Enda Kenny is under pressure to scrap the controversial banking inquiry and to set up an independent probe after one of its central members quit, claiming he had lost all hope in it being free from Cabinet control.

The Government’s addition of two members to the banking inquiry to secure a majority has caused anger among backbenchers, with one Fine Gael TD publicly calling on the Taoiseach to remove a coalition member.

ENDA Kenny’s a liar — well, that is what one of his own Ministers is effectively saying anyway.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s move to force a Government majority onto the banking inquiry was compared to what happened in Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia by opposition senators.

A split in the Coalition over how Enda Kenny packed the Oireachtas inquiry into the banking collapse with Government members has dealt a fresh blow to the credibility of the probe.

Nearly all of the politicians involved in the fiasco around the membership of the banking inquiry committee have done their profession a disservice and have further diminished our parliament in the eyes of a weary, increasingly cynical citizenship.

Former TD Olwyn Enright says she was forced to choose between her family and career due to the culture of the Dáil.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s bid to snatch back a majority on the Oireachtas inquiry into the banking collapse has been thrown into fresh turmoil.

The banking inquiry committee will not have a mandate unless it has a Government majority, the Taoiseach said in comments that provoked the temporary suspension of the Dáil.

The launch of the long awaited Oireachtas inquiry into the banking collapse has been postponed until next month.

There are growing calls for the two Garda whistleblowers who raised concerns about the cancelling of penalty points to receive an apology over how they were treated.

Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald was among the politicians who paid tribute to Christine Buckley, who she described as a “courageous and consistent campaigner” for the rights of the child.

A retired banker who became tech-savvy to indulge his love of music is the country’s top silver surfer.

Cancer survival rates have improved dramatically in the past decade, however, the number of women dying from lung cancer continues to rise.

The backbench rebellion against the abolition of the Seanad is growing, with more TDs and senators opposing the Government’s plan to shut down the upper house.

Selling the state forest industry would only generate enough cash to pay three weeks’ interest on the nation’s debts but could threaten 12,000 jobs, forestry workers have warned.

A Fianna Fáil senator has called for stricter controls for foreign taxi drivers “who do not have a word of English and no clue about the city in which they are working”.

The way the families and users of a service for the intellectually disabled have been treated by the HSE is a “national scandal”, a politician has claimed.

Frustrated Labour senators have parked a controversial move to oust their party whip in the upper house until after the EU treaty referendum.

WORD from the rarified surrounds of Seanad Éireann, the crèche that cares for the oldest and boldest children in the country, that the rations are low and the natives are restless.

Locations in Killarney where the first full-length “talkie” film in Ireland was made in the mid-1930s have been mapped out in a tourist trail.

A SENATOR yesterday called on Irish news outlets to declare they had not engaged in phone hacking or any other illegal practice as senior industry figures said the Irish media had a clean bill of health.