By Daniel McConnell, Political Editor
The embattled Oireachtas Banking Inquiry has suffered a major blow as Sinn Féin Finance Spokesperson Pearse Doherty TD has confirmed this afternoon that he willnot sign off on the Banking Inquiry report.
As first reported several days ago by the Irish Examiner, Mr Doherty has had significant difficulties with the direction the report's final stages have taken and was known to be heading towards not signing it.
Speaking this afternoon, Deputy Doherty said: “When I agreed to take part in the banking inquiry, foremost in my mind were the people who have lost their homes and businesses, the cuts inflicted on our public services and the generation forced into emigration because of the banking crisis”.
“The people have the right to know how the banking crisis came about, who was responsible and to be assured that it would never happen again.
"I have worked constructively on the inquiry to get to the full truth of what happened. While the report includes new information, it fails to fully answer the questions regarding how the crisis came about and who was responsible. Our people deserve the full truth.
"That is why I am unable to not sign off on the committee report."
The now fatally damaged inquiry also looks set to exclude a key part of its report in order to conclude its business on time.
The 11 members of the Inquiry committee, who are meeting throughout today, remain deeply divided as to what form the final report should take, and as a result, look set to jettison the executive summary part.
Fianna Fáil's finance spokesman Micheal McGrath (pictured below) today warned that the report may not have an executive summary as it will be difficult to agree with the 11 members.
He said they had not yet begun to consider the summary but 140 amendments had been tabled. He said that realistically it would be difficult to achieve agreement on its contents.
Mr McGrath said that would be an omission and the report should have an executive summary.
He added that they were never going to have a lengthy document on a complex issue that all 11 members were completely happy with, but he said if they failed to reach an agreement, they would be letting people down.
Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins has also expressed concerns about the report and it not expected to put his name to the final document.