Members of the Banking Inquiry may be told they can't change their final report - even though most members still haven't seen it.

The final deadline for suggested changes has now passed - but crucial parts of the report still haven't been written.

The inquiry's 11 members had until 6pm this evening to submit their final amendments to the inquiry's much-anticipated report, so that they can consider the amendments and complete the report at a meeting tomorrow.

But that deadline passed without members being able to see a draft of its Executive Summary - arguably its most crucial passage.

This summary can't be finished until inquiry staff finish writing the report on the banking module - which has been delayed because senior investigators have still not finished drafting their own contributions.

Fine Gael senator Michael D'Arcy is now helping them with that section, which must be finished in order to allow the executive summary be drafted.

This means that unless another deadline is proposed, members will not have a chance to table any amendments to either section. 

The only other possibility is that members will have made 'blind amendments' to the report - suggesting changes without knowing, for sure, whether their changes are possible or whether their proposed content is already included.

Either prospect would make it more difficult for the report to gain the backing of enough members when they meet tomorrow in what are now becoming make-or-break talks.

Process is tight on time

Under the laws within which the inquiry operates, the final draft of the report must be legally proofed (set to take two days) before it is then distributed to so-called 'interested parties' who submitted evidence throughout the process.

Those interested parties have two weeks to raise any concerns about the report, after which their feedback will be considered. This is likely to take place in the week between Christmas and New Year, with a meeting already scheduled for New Years Eve to make those final changes.

But the law also requires a three-week "cooling off" period where those witnesses can make further revisions or changes, which pushes the inquiry much closer to its final deadline of January 28th. 

Under a timetable adopted last night, the inquiry was set for release on January 27th, just one day before the deadline. But if the report is not approved over the weekend, the remaining day of 'wriggle room' will be lost.

This means that the inquiry is then extra-vulnerable to other problems - such as future legal concerns, challenges raised by witnesses, or difficulties in getting the draft report to witnesses abroad.

Without the extra 24 hours of slack time, any of those problems could make it impossible to issue the report within deadline.