Tánaiste Mary Coughlan has said a motion of confidence in Taoiseach Brian Cowen will be debated in the Dáil next Tuesday.

The Dáil schedule is being cleared to allow for a six-hour debate on the motion.

After what's expected to be a brief Order of Business at 2.30pm, there will be four 30-minute speaking slots, for the Government, Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin.

The rest of the time will be divided into ten minute speaking slots, alternating between Government and Opposition, before the final speaker for the Government finishes the debate with a 15-minute speech.

The vote will be called at 8.30pm.



The development comes on foot of a no confidence motion being tabled by Fine Gael.

The party said two reports published yesterday on the banking crisis confirmed that Mr Cowen was the chief architect of the catastrophic policy failures that led to the country's current economic crisis.



Earlier, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said he deeply regrets some Government decisions that led to the banking crisis and admitted that wrong decisions were made.

Honohan report | Regling Watson report

Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland, he said that the economy became much too dependent on tax receipts from the likes of stamp duty and this created an asset bubble.

He pointed out that during the property boom, there was no appetite for a property tax, which could have curbed some of the activity.

He added that the mistakes were not highlighted by many at the time. He said many of those who predicted the collapse of the property bubble did so at a very late stage.

The Minister said that nothing in yesterday's report by international banking experts Klaus Regling and Max Watson surprised him and he said he has been living with the problems they highlighted for the past two years.

He admitted that report, and another by Central Bank Governor Patrick Honohan, made for frightening reading especially with regard to regulation of the banks. He said that carelessness was combined with a culture of deference to banking management.

Mr Lenihan says the 'light touch' regulation, which was used to attract foreign business here, was wrong.

The Minister said he appointed Financial Regulator Matthew Elderfield in an effort to right some of these decisions.

Mr Lenihan said that almost €1bn has been received from the banks in relation to the Government guarantee.

Defending the guarantee, he said that it would be unthinkable not to honour senior debt.

He said guaranteeing subordinated debt has not cost the country any money and said there will be a more limited guarantee from September.

On Anglo Irish Bank, Mr Lenihan said that a detailed plan from the bank on its future has been submitted to the European Commission.

He said that he agrees with Prof Honohan when he says that the banking crisis is manageable.

The Finance Minister also said that Mr Regling drew up the terms of reference for the inquiry, but added that the Government is willing to listen to suggestions from the Opposition on these terms.

Watch an interview with Patrick Honohan