Oireachtas Committee to probe guarantee for banks today

The Dáil Public Accounts Committee will examine today whether the decision to guarantee the country's banks was in the best interest of taxpayers.

The Committee, under the chairmanship of Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen, will meet in private this morning to scrutinise documents relating to the September 2008 decision.

It may then decide to continue the meeting in public and the Department of Finance has been put on standby in case it decides to call any witnesses.