Ministers cast doubt on PAC probe

A third minister has rowed into the row over proposals for a public bank inquiry and questioned proposals by a high-level Oireachtas committee to lead the probe.

Richard Bruton, the jobs minister, sided with Cabinet colleagues yesterday in raising doubts over any inquiry being conducted by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

He said there was concern that the probe would be overseen by a Fianna Fáil former minister, namely PAC chairman John McGuinness, who was in the last government during the banking crisis.