‘We could see the world collapsing’ on night of guarantee

A state body specifically tasked with giving technical financial advice to the Government was locked out of discussions with ministers on the night of the bank guarantee, and had just “90 seconds” to raise concerns.

The situation was revealed by Brendan McDonagh, the current Nama chairman and former National Treasury Management Agency official at the banking inquiry .

Speaking during a nine-hour meeting with the cross-party group, he said at 7.45pm on September 29, 2008, he was called by then Department of Finance secretary general Kevin Cardiff and told to attend Government buildings without explanation.