Cowen, Lenihan clashed over Anglo

The row between then taoiseach Brian Cowen and his finance minister, Brian Lenihan, on the night of the bank guarantee concerned whether or not to include Anglo Irish Bank in the cover, the banking inquiry will be told on Thursday.

The late Mr Lenihan, together with the Bank of Ireland (BoI) and Allied Irish Banks (AIB), believed that Anglo — the initial source of the banking crisis — should be either liquidated or nationalised.

And to prevent the four other main banks being threatened following the fallout, AIB and BoI made a case for the State to cover their debts, and any debts they might incur over the following two years, into perpetuity.