Taoiseach Enda Kenny should be called before the banking inquiry, the newest member of the committee Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins has said.

Mr Higgins was today nominated by the Dáil technical group to replace Independent deputy Stephen Donnelly. The committee will hold a private meeting in Leinster House on Thursday.

“I am sure that the taoiseach who was in charge of the country when the property bubble was being blown up, taoiseach Bertie Ahern, will be brought before the inquiry,” he said

“And that taoiseach (Brian) Cowen, who presided over the initial bailout, and I also believe that Taoiseach (Enda) Kenny, who continued the bailout, should be among those who would be called.”

Mr Higgins was speaking on the plinth outside Leinster House this afternoon.

Earlier, Sinn Féin spokesman on finance Pearse Doherty robustly defended his decision to remain on the committee.

He said the Government had done damage to the public perception of the inquiry.

He said, however: “I think the public want to know and see us question the bankers, the politicians, the developers, the regulators in the public domain.

“I think there’s an appetite for that to happen and I want to be in the room when those questions are being asked and those questions are being answered.”

Mr Higgins was the only member of the technical group to put himself forward as a candidate for the banking inquiry at the group’s meeting this afternoon.

No objections to his candidacy were voiced but different views were expressed as to the merits or otherwise of the technical group being represented on the inquiry.