Banking Inquiry live: Peter Bacon and Alan Ahearne appearing

Economist Alan Ahearne, a former special advisor to the late Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan, is to present at the Oireachtas Banking Inquiry in Dublin on Wednesday morning.

Mr Ahearne, a professor at NUI Galway and a recently appointed advisor to the Intenrational Monetary Fund, worked with Mr Lenihan form 2009 to 2011. He will speak on issues relating to early warnings, divergent and contrarian views in the context of the banking crisis.

He will be joined by fellow economist Dr Peter Bacon, who will discuss his "Bacon reports" on the housing market in Ireland, and the development of the proposal to establish the National Asset Management Agency (Nama). Mr Bacon is credited with designing Nama, publishing the "Proposal for a National Asset Management Agency (Nama) report in April 2009, and was later appointed as an advisor to Nama. He later suggested that the Government should privatise some or all of Nama.