Kenny’s bid to regain bank inquiry majority backfires

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

After failure by Labour senators to turn up for a vote on the upper house’s nominees for the probe saw the Coalition lose its edge on the nine-member investigation, attempts to block the Fianna Fáil senator who was selected have received a setback.

Fine Gael leader Maurice Cummings objected to the selection of FF’s Marc MacSharry as he claimed the senator had a “conflict of interest” before withdrawing the remark.