Ciaran Lynch, Committee Chairman – opening comments at the start of the Nexus Phase

22/04/2015

The cold shadow of the banking and financial crisis can still be seen and felt in every corner of Ireland.

Yet we do not have a full picture of the events leading up to, during and after the crisis.

Gaps still remain in our knowledge of that time.

Questions remain to be answered.

It is this committee’s responsibility to unearth those missing pieces and put them together.

In commencing the Nexus phase of the Inquiry, I want to welcome members of the public watching our proceedings live.

You have the opportunity to hear, at first hand, from those who were involved in one of the major events in the history of our country.

You will be able to see and hear from them as they are questioned and give their evidence to our committee.

This inquiry has been set up to serve you, the Irish people, to get the answers to questions about the crisis and to ensure that a crisis of this nature is never visited upon the Irish people again.

As a committee we intend to fulfil that duty to you.

The context phase of the Inquiry which we have just completed served a purpose – it set out the background to the crisis, and has prepared the ground for the Nexus Phase of public hearings which we start today.

During this phase the Committee will engage with institutions and individuals who had central roles during the crisis period.

This represents a significant step up in activity and responsibility for all – both the Committee and the Banking Inquiry Team, which is working behind the scenes.

It will focus on three broad elements — Banking Systems & Practices; Regulatory and Supervisory Systems & Practices; and Crisis Management Systems and Policy Responses — and how these three elements interacted with each other.

It will identify and analyse all evidence and produce a final report in November.

We know we are facing into a huge task with over 64 public hearings ahead of us when we will be hearing from over 50 witnesses as well as receiving Witness Statements.

The Inquiry has sought and received nearly 40,000 documents to date amounting to hundreds of thousands of pages. This is the first time that all of the key documents over this period have been collated and examined in one place at one time.

The real strength of the Inquiry is its ability not just to look at one document in isolation but to draw together the various strands from various sources, along with key public testimony, to get a better picture of what happened, to put in place the pieces of the jigsaw.

While public hearings with witnesses are televised and webcast live, these are only part of the process. Much of the Joint Committee’s work is less visible to the public.

A parliamentary inquiry is a complex project, requiring significant behind the scenes work to support the public hearings leading to the final report.

In this regard, I would like to thank the secretariat and investigators for the work they’ve done to date and will continue to do on behalf of this Inquiry.

Now I wish to address the members of the media.

You are very welcome to our hearings.

We recognise and appreciate the important role you have played and continue to play in covering the work of the committee and its proceedings.

Finally, 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.

The fact that we completed the context phase and are now starting our Nexus phase on schedule reflects the co-operative and positive approach that the Committee has adopted in how we set about our work.

A responsibility rests on the shoulders of all of the members of this Committee.

It is the first committee to carry out its work under new legislation, and has been entrusted to examine one of the major events in the history of this State, a crisis which has impacted on every household in Ireland.

Only by having a complete picture of what happened can we learn lessons and apply these lessons into the future.

Only then we can truly move on as a nation, when confident that a crisis like this will never be revisited upon us all again.