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

I now bring the meeting back into private ... sorry, public session, is that agreed? Agreed. All right. We're now moving on this afternoon to session 2, which is a public hearing with Mr. John Moran, former Secretary General to the Department of Finance. The Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis now resuming in public session and can I ask members and those in the public Gallery to ensure that their mobile devices are switched off?Today, we continue our hearings with the senior officials in the Department of Finance who had key roles during the finance crisis period. At our first session this afternoon, we will hear from Mr. John Moran, former Secretary General, Department of Finance. John Moran was Secretary General in the Department of Finance from March 2012 to May 2014. Prior to that appointment, he served as a second Secretary General in the Department of Finance where he was head of the banking division. He had previously worked as head of wholesale banking supervision in the Central Bank of Ireland and as CEO and board member of Zurich Capital Markets. Mr. Moran, you're very welcome before the inquiry this afternoon.

Before hearing from the witness, I wish to advise the witness that by section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of their evidence to this committee. If you are directed by the Chairman to cease giving evidence in relation to a particular matter and you continue to do so, you are entitled thereafter only to a qualified privilege in respect of your evidence. You are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of these proceedings is to be given. I would remind members and those present that there are currently criminal proceedings ongoing and further criminal proceedings are scheduled during the lifetime of the inquiry, which overlap with the subject matter of the inquiry. The utmost caution should then be taken not to prejudice those proceedings.Members of the public are reminded that photography is prohibited in the committee room. To assist the smooth running of the inquiry, we will display certain documents on the screens here in the committee room. For those sitting in the Gallery, these documents will be displayed on the screens to your left and right. Members of the public and journalists are reminded that these documents are confidential and they should not publish any of the documents so displayed.

The witness has been directed to attend the meeting of the Joint Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis. You have been furnished with booklets of core documents. These are before the committee and will be relied upon now in evidence and form part of the evidence of inquiry. If I can now ask the clerk to administer the oath to Mr. Moran, please.