Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan is to appear before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance when this is posted to answer questions on the proposed legislation to establish the National Asset Management Agency.

Fianna Fáil is calling on the Opposition parties to use today's meeting to outline in detail their plans to solve the current banking difficulties.

The Joint Oireachtas Committee is meeting to discuss the draft NAMA legislation ahead of a debate in the Dáil on the 16 September.

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan will answer questions put to him by committee members.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael has distanced itself from comments made by former Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald in which he warned of the dire consequences for Ireland if the Opposition voted against the NAMA legislation.

He said this could leave the country vulnerable to intervention by the International Monetary Fund.

Fine Gael has said Dr FitzGerald made the remarks as an independent commentator and they were not the views of the party.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr FitzGerald said that given a chance and some modification NAMA could work out.

Mr Fitzgerald said there would be difficulties with any approach.

He stressed that to restart the whole process - to abandon NAMA and adopt another approach - would take a long time.

'A defeat on this issue now, or indeed on the budget in December, could be very destabilising for our capacity to borrow abroad,' he warned.

He added that he not was 'awfully impressed' with the argument from 46 economists and professors in last week's Irish Times, saying the absence of key names was interesting and significant.

'The statement made that Ireland is moving toward a deficit of €30bn was quite irresponsible.'

Mr FitxGerald said it was vital to tackle the economic crisis without delay and that he was hopeful of a subsequent economic recovery.

Watch live from 2pm.

Source: http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0831/banks.html

Video: http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0831/banks_av.html