Cowen to tell bank inquiry he didn’t force Lenihan into guarantee

Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen will claim he did not force then finance minister Brian Lenihan to include Anglo Irish and Irish Nationwide in the controversial 2008 bank guarantee at a hotly anticipated bank inquiry meeting this week.

The ex-Fianna Fáil leader, who has become synonymous with Ireland’s economic crash since the end of Celtic Tiger, will also insist his long-questioned decision to include the firms was done because he genuinely believed it was the cheapest option available.

Details of the former political heavyweight’s evidence to the cross-party inquiry were controversially leaked to a Sunday newspaper yesterday before Mr Cowen faced two high-profile grillings from the group this Thursday and next Wednesday.