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Updated 12.05pm
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Everyone’s talking about…
The cabinet is set to meet this morning to finalise the terms of reference of the commission of investigation into certain IBRC transactions.
Requests for the lower house to be recalled last week fell on deaf ears, as the row over Dáil privilege escalated following comments made about Denis O’Brien’s relationship with IBRC (formerly Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide) by independent TD Catherine Murphy.
Opposition TDs met with Finance Minister Michael Noonan yesterday to discuss the terms of reference of the investigation.
They want the scope of the inquiry to be widened to include departmental oversight and transactions made by the special liquidator after the bank was wound down in February 2013.
TDs will finally get their chance to have their say on the Dáil floor – with several hours of debate on the issue pencilled in today and tomorrow.
Speaking on Morning Ireland, Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said Noonan “seemed to be open” to suggestions made by the opposition at the meeting.
Echoing calls made by Murphy, she added that it needs to be clarified if any of the bank’s customers received preferential treatment or, as she put it, if ”nod nod wink wink behaviour” went on.
On his way into cabinet this morning, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said once the terms of reference are signed off on, the judge overseeing the investigation will be entirely independent, stating: “Judges are not the pawns of any minister and they’re not the pawns of any government.”
Later, Noonan said he believed the government would get “a good result” from discussions this morning and added that the terms of reference will “allow the judge to deal with all the issues that have been raised”.
But don’t expect that to satisfy the opposition.
Inside Leinster House
The IBRC debate is set to kick off just after 5pm today, and is set to be very interesting – and possibly quite shout-y.
The agenda
What the others are saying
In case you missed it
On the Twitter machine
Fine Gael TD John O’Mahony is embracing his new constituency…
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