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

As the committee is back in quorum, I now propose that we go back into public session. Is that agreed? And the Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis is now resuming in public session. Can I ask members and those in the public Gallery to ensure that their mobile devices are switched off.

And in doing so, welcome back - our witness today is Mr. Brian Cowen, former Taoiseach and Minister for Finance. In this afternoon's session, we'll broadly focus upon Mr. Cowen's tenure as Taoiseach from January 2009 until the general election of early 2011.

Mr. Cowen, if I can maybe just deal with a couple of matters that are outstanding from the morning and then we'll get straight into this afternoon's business. You were discussing earlier this morning the issue of junior bondholders and their inclusion in the guarantee. Could you tell us was there a discussion with junior bondholders with Mr. Lenihan when he was still present on the evening? Was the decision made with the Minister still present or was that decision made after Minister Lenihan had departed? And could you also explain to the committee the reasoning behind the including of junior bondholders in the guarantee?