Banking Inquiry on a knife-edge as deadline looms

The banking inquiry is on a knife-edge as it meets today to sign-off on at least 60 findings and an executive summary as time runs out on its bid to meet strict deadlines.

The group, made up of 11 TDs and senators, will discuss the contentious issues after spending yesterday debating more than 200 amendments to its latest draft report.

At the time of going to press last night, the inquiry had signed-off on most amendments for at least five of the 10 chapters of the report. A previous version of the document included 27 areas.

They include the property sector; the bank guarantee; the role of State institutions such as the Central Bank and financial regulator; the preparation for and lead-up to the economic crisis; and what happened in the months after the guarantee.

The issues were signed off on relatively quickly by 8pm yesterday after a planned 11am meeting only got under way at 2.30pm.

Inquiry members believed they would also work their way through chapter amendments on bondholder and EU burden sharing; the troika bailout; Nama; the banks; and the Fianna Fáil-led government and opposition’s economic policies between 1999 and the 2008 crash.

However, it was privately admitted that these chapters — in particular those relating to party policies, burden- sharing, and individual bankers — are likely to be the subject of significant debate within the inquiry due to the political and legal ramifications of any conclusions.

Provided the committee signed off on all amendments last night during a meeting which was expected to stretch past midnight, it will this morning return to discuss and sign off on more than 60 findings and recommendations of its report.

Should it overcome this political minefield, the outcome of which will be central to economic debates during the general election campaign, it will this evening turn its attention to the 40-page executive summary.

An early draft of this summary is understood to have accused the Fianna Fáil-led government of negligence from the late 1990s until 2008, and to have claimed former finance ministers Brian Cowen and Charlie McCreevy failed to listen to department concerns on the economy overheating.

It is understood that Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath and his party colleague, senator Marc MacSharry — who are both on the inquiry — will vehemently oppose the conclusion and may refuse to sign off on such findings.

In the event an agreement can be reached, the inquiry will hand its report to the senior counsel overseeing the investigation on Monday morning.

The counsel will then have until Wednesday to decide whether it is in a fit enough state to be sent out to individuals named in the document for an unavoidable right-of-reply process immediately, if it requires further amendments, or is still unworkable and should be scrapped.

Any delay would cause havoc to the already tight January 27 planned publication date, which is just 24 hours before the inquiry legally must end, and will impact on election planning.