Dáil to debate financial crisis

POLITICIANS will take the unusual step of turning up to the Dáil next Friday for a special debate on the financial crisis after two separate reports predicted growing unemployment, bank losses and a shrinking of the economy.

The Government agreed to the six-hour debate after opposition parties threatened to withdraw co-operation in the business of the house unless they were given time to discuss this week’s reports by the OECD and International Monetary Fund (IMF), the global economic watchdog.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan was accused of having his “head in the sand” after claiming the IMF report commended how the Government is dealing with our economic crisis.