The Houses of the Oireachtas Service is seeking to speak to parties who would be interested in transcribing the proceedings of the long-awaited banking inquiry.

The service, which through its debates office provides transcripts of Dáil, Seanad and committee proceedings for the Oireachtas website, has placed a notice of interest on the eTenders website in order to sound out the market.

It believes additional bodies will be required to cover the additional workload arising from the inquiry, should it go ahead. The service is keen to discuss matters such as the requirements of the job and the cost of providing the service.

Preparations are gathering pace in Government to initiate the investigation in the autumn, and Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin has circulated a memo to the Cabinet setting out how he believes the causes of the banking crisis should be examined.

Mr Howlin laid a draft order before the Dáil and Seanad on July 31st to commence the inquiry Bill but the exact terms of reference for the investigation remain to be decided.

The Government is believed to be divided on the composition of the inquiry team, with some arguing for an ad hoc team of TDs and Senators and others favouring the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform.