One of the country's biggest property developers says he is sorry he didn't predict the size of the property crash.

Joe O'Reilly says he simply did not foresee the extent to which property prices would collapse.

One of Mr O'Reilly's companies is responsible for the Dundrum Town Centre, while another owns stakes in other shopping centres in Dublin.

He has told the Banking Inquiry he had no idea how suddenly the collapse would come:

The former Labour leader Pat Rabbitte has questioned whether Brian Cowen could have played golf with directors from Anglo Irish Bank, without discussing the affairs of the bank.

Deputy Rabbitte has been giving evidence to the Banking Inquiry this about his time as an opposition leader.

He says he believes Brian Cowen made every effort to try and deal with the financial crisis and the bailout as it arose in 2010.

But he says he can't understand why Mr Cowen would have not have discussed Anglo's problems when he went golfing with Seán FitzPatrick a few months after becoming Taoiseach:

Earlier, the Tánaiste blamed the ESRI for issuing forecasts that failed to predict the economic collapse.

She said Labour and other opposition parties had relied on those forecasts when producing their election manifestos in 2007.

Ms Burton gave evidence at the Banking Inquiry about her role as finance spokesperson for Labour, alongside the former leader of the party Pat Rabbitte.

The Inquiry is hearing from the current government, to discuss the policies they put forward in opposition.

Ms Burton has told the Inquiry that there was no reason to think the ESRI figures could be so wrong.

Tensions began to rise at the inquiry over the line of questioning taken by a Fianna Fáil senator.

Marc MacSharry complained that his questions to Ms Burton were not being answered.

But in turn Senator MacSharry has been accused of disrespecting the inquiry by being hostile towards witnesses.

The senator demanded answers from Ms Burton about the appointment of extra members to the inquiry, when other members felt the need to intervene:

Earlier Taoiseach Enda Kenny went on the attack at the Banking Inquiry, accusing Fianna Fáil of squandering the boom.

He told the Inquiry that the previous government had allowed Ireland to become "bloated, over-borrowed and uncompetitive".

But Mr Kenny says the mismanagement of Fianna Fáil is the reason why Irish people suffered so badly.

The Taoiseach, Tánaiste Joan Burton, Jobs Minister Richard Bruton and former Labour leader Pat Rabbitte are all appearing before the Banking Inquiry today.

Inquiry chairman Ciaran Lynch said: "The Taoiseach and Minister Bruton are appearing before the Inquiry today in the context of their respective roles as the leader of Fine Gael while in Opposition and as the Fine Gael spokesperson on Finance while in opposition, while the Tánaiste and Deputy Rabbitte answer questions in relation to their respective roles as the Labour Party spokesperson on Finance while in opposition and as the leader of the Labour party while in Opposition."

The focus will be on the effectiveness of the Oireachtas in scrutinising public policy on the banking sector and the economy, analysis of the key drivers for budget policy, and the appropriateness of the relationships between the government, Oireachtas with the banking sector and property sector.

Former Fianna Fáil Taoisigh Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen, as well as former finance minister Charlie McCreevy, have all indicated in their testimonies to the inquiry that the main opposition parties of the day also demanded lower taxes and higher spending in the lead up to the crash.

The founder of Castlehorn Construction and Chartered Land Group, Joe O'Reilly, will also appear before the Inquiry later this afternoon.