The Dáil has heard claims that Michael Noonan might have misled it - and should resign.

The claims come from the Social Democrat TD Stephen Donnelly, who says the minister's comments have been rejected by the Banking Inquiry.

Mr Noonan told the Dáil in November 2011 that the ECB never threatened Ireland over its plans to burn bondholders - but the Banking Inquiry yesterday found there was a threat.

Mr Donnelly says it's a resigning matter, but expects Fine Gael to ignore the issue – an irony, he says, as the Banking Inquiry report found that there was a serious lack of accountability from those in positions of power.

“I have no doubt that this is going be brushed off by Fine Gael about semantics or whatever else, because we don’t have political accountability,” Mr Donnelly said.

“Which is a great irony in the context of exactly what the Banking Inquiry was trying to show - a lack of accountability, in the regulator, in the department of finance and in politics,” he added.

The Banking Inquiry report was discussed in the Dáil this afternoon, with Labour TD Pat Rabbitte calling on the next Government to consider suing the ECB over its stance on burning bondholders.

The report the ECB issued an “explicit threat” to Irish politicians, and subsequently forced the Irish taxpayers to take on the costs of saving the banks.