FF fury over ‘political stroke’ claim

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.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan said the decision last Thursday to add two Government members to the inquiry team — senators Susan O’Keeffe (Labour) and Michael D’Arcy (Fine Gael) — was to bring the committee to the “normal practice” of reflecting the Dáil strength of parties.

“The only reason this committee ended up not reflecting what was normal practice since the State was founded was that some Labour senators did not turn up for the vote and Fianna Fáil took advantage of that by putting one of their senators in, contrary to the agreement,” he said.