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

We will go back into public session. Is that agreed? Agreed. In doing so, we will now move on to session 2 of today ... or the afternoon session, which is a public hearing with Mr. William Beausang, assistant secretary, Department of Finance. The Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis is 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 and after the crisis period. At our session this afternoon, we will hear from Mr. William Beausang, assistant secretary, Department of Finance. William Beausang joined the Civil Service in 1982, he was appointed assistant secretary in the banking, finance and international division of the Department of Finance in April 2005. He transferred to the government reform unit in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in July 2011. Mr. Beausang, you're very welcome before the inquiry this afternoon.

Before hearing from the witness, I wish to advise the witness 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 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. Therefore, the utmost caution should 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 screen here in the committee room. For those sitting in the Gallery, these documents will be displayed on the screen 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 this meeting of the Joint Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis. You have been furnished with booklets of core documents. They are before the committee and will be relied upon in questioning and form part of the evidence in the inquiry. So with that said, if I can now call on the clerk to administer the oath to Mr. Beausang, please.