Donnelly resigns from banking inquiry
Independent TD Stephen Donnelly has announced he's to resign from the Oireachtas banking inquiry.
The announcement comes after the coalition last week added two senators to the Oireachtas inquiry to ensure it had a Government majority.
The Wicklow Deputy said the actions of the Government have shown that they will use their majority to control the outcome of the investigation.
Deputy Donnelly says the Taoiseach can now set the inquiry's terms of reference, decide who is questioned, exclude certain events for consideration and even veto the final report.
His resignation comes before the inquiry has even begun.
When contacted this morning, Fianna Fáil said it i's not happy with the way things have panned out - but that its Finance spokeperson Michael McGrath has no plans at this stage to resign from the Oireachtas Banking Inquiry committee.
The Taoiseach has described the response from Opposition politicians as hysterical and said the moves to give the Government a majority on the Banking Inquiry reflect "the will of the people".
Enda Kenny says a majority is needed on every Oireachtas Committee to agree to terms of reference and ensure its work is completed.
