The judge appointed to look into loan write-downs at IBRC says it would take 18 months to two years to investigate the top 12 transactions - and only after legal issues are sorted out.

Mr Justice Brian Cregan has also signalled further problems with the Central Bank and Irish Stock Exchange - and he says SiteServ no longer exists as a company and would need to be re-established by the High Court.

The 69 page interim report published this evening says that investigating all 38 transactions under current laws would take several years and result in substantial costs - which the chairman says would not be in the public interest.

Mr Justice Cregan wants changes in the law to get over the issues of confidentiality and legal privilege.

But he has identified new problems surrounding secrecy of Central Bank documents that are based in European law, and problems accessing documents from the stock exchange to assess if there was any insider trading - while Siteserv was liquidated and would need to be reconstituted.

Mr Justice Cregan has also identified a perceived or actual conflict of interest in a number of transactions, but he says that could be overcome with the appointment of another judge to the commission.

Among his recommendations are the appointment of at least one more judge and to focus on the top 12 transactions that account for more than two-thirds of the €1.9bn in write-offs - he says once the legal issues are sorted out - a report on these could be delivered in 18 months to two years.