Public-accounts watchdog outlines framework for banking inquiry

The Public Accounts Committee has drawn up a framework for the establishment of a public inquiry into the domestic banking crisis.

In a report published this afternoon, the PAC recommends that the inquiry should begin with the circumstances surrounding the bank guarantee.

While the committee acknowleged an Oireachtas inquiry cannot make findings of fact or culpability, it said there had to be a discussion about how the crisis could have been averted.

Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee Fianna Fáil's John McGuinness said a "volume of questions remain unanswered".

He said there had to be accountability so that lessons could be learned and mistakes not repeated.