Here are the amendments the bank inquiry has agreed for 9 of the 11 chapters in its report

By Fiachra Ó Cionnaith, Political Reporter

The bank inquiry is likely to have to meet for a third day in a row tomorrow in a bid to ensure it meets strict deadlines to finish its crisis-hit report into the economic crisis.

It is understood the 11 TDs and Senators will consider the plan this evening due to the scale of work that is still facing them.

By 5pm today the cross-party committee had agreed amendments for nine of 11 chapters, after 19 hours of meetings which began at 2pm on Friday.

They are:

- property sector;

- the bank guarantee;

- the role of State institutions such as the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator;

- the preparation for and lead-up to the economic crisis;

- what happened in the months after the guarantee;

- NAMA;

- the banks;

- a new chapter on the role of auditors which was split from the banks section on Friday evening;

- and all parties' economic policies between 1999 and the 2008 crash.

Despite being viewed as being a likely battleground that could bring down the entire investigation, the parties' policies chapter is understood to have had less than 30 amendments and was agreed within hours.

However, despite the outcome renewing optimism among some members, others have warned two other controversial and politically sensitive sections - on bondholder and EU burden sharing; and the 2010 Troika bailout - have yet to be agreed and could cause further problems to emerge.

The inquiry team is also understood to have begun work on the similarly divisive 60-to-80 findings of the report during a two hour working lunch near Leinster House which ended at 4pm.

However, given the fact substantive work on this key section is unlikely to be fully focused on until late this evening - alongside a still untouched executive summary which has been mired in claims of alleged political bias for days - inquiry sources said it is likely the group will be forced to meet again on Sunday to complete the patched-together document.

The inquiry is under intense pressure to provide a final report to its senior counsel by Monday morning - a deadline which if not met will effectively kill off the investigation.

In the event an agreement can be reached, the inquiry will hand over its document to the senior counsel overseeing the long-running investigation's work on Monday morning.

The legal expert 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 rights of reply process immediately, needs further amendments, or is still unworkable and should be scrapped.

Any further delay would cause havoc to the already tight January 27 planned publication date, which is just 24 hours before the inquiry legally must end.

Failure to hit any of these deadlines would also cause havoc to mooted coalition plans for a February general election as if the Dáil is dissolved before the report is published the multi-million euro investigation will cease to exist.

This week's earlier extension of the inquiry's expected publication date from January 20 to January 27 means a potential Friday February 12election date is now a non-runner.

Similarly, it places a Friday February 19 date in a precarious position.

A Friday February 26 date would also almost certainly be wiped out by a further extension, with a March election so close to the 1916 centenary celebrations being unpopular among coalition strategists as it could allow Sinn Féin to gain votes through its version of links going back to the Easter Rising.