Chairman’s Introduction

This is the first time that an inquiry of this type will be carried out under new legislation. We have a real opportunity to demonstrate that Parliament can carry out a fair and balanced inquiry into events that impacted so heavily on Ireland and the Irish people.

Ireland’s banking crisis was unprecedented in terms of its scale and impact on the State. The crisis cannot be characterised as a simple banking systems failure but rather a crisis borne of a wider systemic failure. It cannot be looked at strictly through one lens, but must take account of the relationships between the various actors and the wider context for their actions.

A key element is that the inquiry should be conducted in an open and transparent manner. I think that it is necessary that this parliamentary inquiry is communicated as widely as possible using the many public information services available to us, such as this dedicated website, as well as through social media, webcasting and Oireachtas TV. This will allow for a first-hand account to be given by people involved in one of the major events in the history of the State. Importantly, it will allow the people of Ireland to see and hear those called on to give their evidence in public.

Ciarán Lynch, Chairman