Oireachtas Banking Inquiry to start public hearings on Wednesday

14/12/2014

The Oireachtas Banking Inquiry will hold its first public meetings as part of the inquiry context phase when it meets with Finnish academic and finance expert Peter Nyberg on Wednesday, December 17th 2014.

Mr Nyberg wrote the report of the Commission of Investigation into the Banking Sector, Misjudging Risk: Causes of the Systemic Banking Crisis in Ireland.

On 18th December, Rob Wright, the former Canadian Secretary General of Finance author of the report Strengthening the Capacity of the Department of Finance, will appear before the Committee.

Chairman Ciaran Lynch TD: “We are pleased that the Inquiry is on schedule and is now in full operational mode and that the first of the public hearings will begin on Wednesday. The test of this hearing will be the level of preparation we put in. The first round of hearings in the coming weeks will be a Context Phase where we will engage with experts to get an in-depth understanding of difference aspects of the banking crisis which will prepare the ground and set out the landscape for Nexus Phase. During the Nexus phase, we will engage with institutions and individuals who had roles during the crisis. The Nexus Phase, which will focus on three broad elements – Banking Systems & Practices; Regulatory and Supervisory Systems & Practices; and Crisis Management Systems and Policy Responses and how they interacted – will start in April as planned and the Committee will present its final report in November.

“Later this week, as part of the Context Phase, we will meet with the authors of two reports into the crisis to review their findings and recommendations and also to see what has changed since those reports were published.

“The fact that we are starting our public hearings on schedule reflects the co-operative and positive approach that the Committee has adopted in how we set about our work. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of the Committee members for their hard work and commitment in getting to this stage.

“We are at the beginning of a journey of work which I believe is an opportunity to demonstrate that the Irish parliament can hold a fair and balanced inquiry to find answers to many key questions that remain to be answered about the banking crisis.”

All media enquiries in relation to the Oireachtas Banking Inquiry should be addressed to:

Ciaran Brennan,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2

P: +3531 618 3903
M: 086-0496518
F: +3531 618 4551

Committee Membership

Deputies

Ciarán Lynch (Chairman)
Pearse Doherty
Joe Higgins
Michael McGrath
Eoghan Murphy
Kieran O’Donnell
John Paul Phelan

Senators

Sean D Barrett
Michael D’Arcy
Marc MacSharry
Susan O’Keeffe