The Banking Inquiry has been told that some bankers knew their banks were insolvent at the time of the bank guarantee - but never told the Government.

Professor Gregory Connor says it is a matter of fact that some senior bankers knew their institutions were already destined to fail.

He says the financial regulator completely failed to notice this, or to warn politicians about it ahead of the blanket guarantee:

The Maynooth University professor says regulators and economists totally failed to heed the warning signs in 2006 and 2007.

Professor Connor told the inquiry the Central Bank should have stopped property lending, and also stopped so many foreign banks from investing their spare money in Ireland.