It's becoming more likely that the General Election could be called as early as next Tuesday.

It's after the government set aside 90 minutes of Dáil time this Thursday to debate the Banking Inquiry's final report.

It had been speculated that the debate could be arranged next Tuesday, which would have lowered the chance of the Dáil being dissolved so quickly.

Some backbenchers had expected the Inquiry debate not to be scheduled until next week, which would have delayed the prospect of the Dáil being dissolved so the election campaign could get underway.

However the debate will now be held in the early afternoon in two days' time - meaning there is less reason for the Dáil to return to usual business next week.

The report is due to be published tomorrow (Wednesday) and is set to question the rationale for a blanket guarantee, as well as questioning Michael Noonan's campaign to burn bank bondholders, and the actions of the Central Bank and Financial Regulator in failing to stop the crisis.

Aside from the debate on the Banking Inquiry report, the Dáil is also due to pass two longstanding pieces of legislation and begin its debate on three more.

However those latter pieces of legislation are unlikely to be passed before the election either way, meaning once the inquiry report is debated, and the other two laws formally passed, there are few barriers remaining.