The Tánaiste has issued a warning shot to banks to deal with the mortgage arrears crisis fairly.

Eamon Gilmore says the attitude of banks or exorbitant fees will not debar anyone from entering into a process.

He says updated figures for the end of July show 1,800 split mortgages were in place. And he has used the Dáil chamber to send a message to the banks.

The Tanaiste and Mary-Lou McDonald of Sinn Fein clashed on the issue in the Dail today.

Meanwhile the chairman of the Oireachtas Finance Committee, Ciaran Lynch, says they are preparing to take responsibility of investigations.

"What I'm proposing a this time - and I'll obviously have to meet with my other fellow committee members - is that we actually begin the process of putting a proposal together to...scope out what that proposal will actually investigate; and also to request from the Committee on Privileges and Procedures what the standing orders guidelines are for actually making this submission" he said.

But Fianna Fail are accusing the government of using the banking inquiry as a political tactic.

The party who were in power at the time of the banking collapse say they will fully co-operate with any investigation into the 2008 blanket bank guarantee but say politicians should not be involved in the process.

They have suggested a model similar to that of the Leveson Inquiry in Britain - which was done in public, led by a judge with distinct terms of reference.