The government has added two more Senators to the banking inquiry - to make sure it has a majority on the committee.

Fine Gael's Michael D'Arcy and Labour senator Susan O'Keeffe will both be added to the inquiry.

That means the inquiry will go from 9 members to 11 - with the government having a 6-5 majority.

Enda Kenny has insisted that a government majority is needed in order to agree the terms of reference for the inquiry - a claim lambasted by the opposition, which says it will become a whitewash if the government runs the inquiry along party lines.

The decision to add two senators comes after two Labour senators failed to attend a meeting of the Seanad's Committee on Selection last week, which chooses senators to sit on Oireachtas committees.

Susan O'Keeffe had been expected to be chosen - but in her absence, and that of her Labour colleague Lorraine Higgins, Fianna Fáil's Marc MacSharry was chosen instead.

Combined with the seven Dáil representatives, that meant there would be a 5-4 opposition majority on the inquiry.

The opposition parties had encouraged the government to accept the decision reached by the Seanad committee and to allow the arrangements to stand.

The furore has already caused the delay of the first meeting of the Oireachtas banking inquiry, which was due to be held yesterday.

The renewed delay in choosing members means the terms of reference are unlikely to be finalised before the Summer recess - meaning a significant delay in the first hearings taking place, and witnesses being called.

Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly reports: