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

Thank you, Mr. Cowen, for your opening comments this morning. I just want to lead off with one question and then I'll invite Deputy O'Donnell and Deputy Higgins, who are our lead questioners this morning, to open up their line of questioning with you. Mr. Cowen, you were appointed Minster for Finance in September 2004 after being Minister for four other portfolios. Did you feel you were appropriately skilled for the task of managing financial stability or understanding financial regulation and how much reliance did you place on advice from the Department of Finance, Central Bank and Financial Regulator, and what was the perception of the advice that was being given to you?