Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We are now in public session. The second session of today's hearings is a discussion with Ms Marie Hunt of CBRE. We are focusing on issues related to the nature and functioning of the commercial real estate market in the period prior to 2008 in the context of the banking crisis in Ireland.

I welcome Ms Hunt. CBRE group is the world's largest commercial real estate service and investment firm, with more than 52,000 employees, and serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through more than 370 offices worldwide. In Ireland, CBRE is the country's largest commercial real estate services company, employing over 140 employees with offices in Dublin and Belfast. CBRE Ireland is a multi-disciplinary property services company, offering a full range of property services including property sales and acquisitions, leasing and management, investment sales and acquisitions, corporate services, project management, consultancy, valuations and research on behalf of a range of different client types, including vendors, purchasers, landlords, tenants, developers and investors as well as third party service providers including banks, solicitors, receivers, planners, accountants, etc.

Ms Marie Hunt is a fellow of the Society of Chartered Surveyors in Ireland and a member of the European Society of Property Researchers. Almost 20 years ago, Ms Hunt established the research department of the Irish business of CBRE, which is now regarded as one of the most authoritative sources of commercial property information in the Irish market. A regular conference participant and commentator in the Irish media on property matters, Ms Hunt produces many property market publications on all sectors of the Irish commercial real estate market and carries out specialist consultancy work on behalf of a broad range of institutional, private and public sector clients.

Before we begin, I advise that by virtue of section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of their evidence to the committee. If they are directed by the Chairman to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and continue to so do, they are entitled thereafter only to qualified privilege in respect of their evidence. They are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of these proceedings is to be given and, as they have been informed previously, the committee is asking them to refrain from discussing named individuals in this phase of the inquiry. Members are reminded of the long-standing ruling of the Chair to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the Houses or an official by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable. I invite Ms Hunt to make her opening comments.