Opposition: Publish Nationwide report now

A “SENSATIONAL” report revealing the failings that led to €5.4 billion of taxpayers’ money being pumped into Irish Nationwide must be made public, opposition parties demanded last night.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan was accused of hypocrisy for demanding openness in probing the banking collapse while in opposition, but “sitting on” a key investigation now he is in power.

The Department of Finance has been in possession of the final report by Ernst & Young and solicitors McCann Fitzgerald since the middle of last year, but insist the findings are subject to “legal privilege”.