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

The Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis is now in public session. Is that agreed? Agreed. Can I ask members and those in the public Gallery to ensure that their mobile devices are now switched off. We begin today's first session - one of three sessions of public hearings - and we commence with Mr. Ajai Chopra, former deputy director of the IMF and in doing so, I would like to welcome everyone to the final day of the public hearings of the Joint Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis. Before we hear from our witness I would like to say a few words about the inquiry to date and what lies ahead.

Today is the final day of public hearings of the banking inquiry - an inquiry that was established to serve the Irish people, to get the answers to questions about the banking crisis and to ensure that a crisis of this nature is never visited upon the Irish people again.

The banking crisis was, and remains, one of the most traumatic events in modern Irish history - it has impacted on homes, families and communities throughout our country. Few were spared its effects and many are still suffering from them today. Many people have rightfully asked - "How did this happen?" While much has been written about the crisis, gaps have remained in our knowledge of that time. The Irish people want and deserve the fullest and most comprehensive understanding of how the crisis enveloped our country.

It is right and fitting that in a parliamentary democracy, our Parliament, people elected on behalf of the people, should seek to provide answers to questions about the crisis on its people's behalf. These past months of hearings have demonstrated that the Irish Parliament can hold a fair and impartial public inquiry. The inquiry has been held in an open and transparent manner with proceedings broadcast on the Internet and on television for all to see and hear. It has portrayed our Parliament in a positive light with members from all parties and no party working together on behalf of the Irish people.

For those members of the public watching today, I want to say that this inquiry was served and set up to serve you, the Irish people, to provide the fullest understanding, to ensure we learn the lessons from our past so that it is not repeated in the future. You have had the opportunity to hear, at first hand, from those who were involved in one of the major events in the history of our country. You were able to see and hear from them as they were questioned and gave their evidence to this committee.

The committee is now embarking on the final phase of its work leading to its final report. This involves the analysis and review of evidence, obtaining clarification of material evidence from witnesses, and the compilation of books of core documents for publication with the final report. When the public hearings conclude this afternoon, the committee will have heard oral evidence from 128 witnesses over 49 days since last December.

These witnesses, representing all the key institutions and relevant stakeholders, along with relevant experts, have brought a wide range of perspectives to bear on the committee’s comprehensive examination of Ireland’s banking crisis.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the committee members for their hard work and their commitment during our public hearings and the entire process. However, the taking of oral evidence is only a part of the work of this inquiry.

The inquiry has sought and received nearly 50,000 documents to date, amounting to hundreds of thousands of pages. This is the first time that the key documents over the period, 1 January 1992 to 31 December 2013, have been collated and examined in one place at one time.

The real strength of the inquiry is its ability not just to look at one document in isolation, but to draw together the different strands from various sources, along with the key public testimony, to get a better picture of what happened, to put in place the pieces of the jigsaw which made up the banking crisis. Over the coming months, the committee and its team will work on bringing together all the ingredients for its final report.

While public hearings with witnesses are televised and webcast live, these are only part of the process. Much of the joint committee’s work is less visible to the public. A parliamentary inquiry is a complex project, requiring a dedicated and expert team working behind the scenes to support the work of the joint committee.

In this regard, I would like to thank the secretariat and the investigators for the work that they have done to date and will continue to do so on behalf of the inquiry, as we work together to complete our final report.

Every hour of public hearings requires hours of backroom work and support. Without this support, the committee would not be successfully completing its public hearings today and be able to deal with the challenges it has faced to date and the challenges it faces into the future.

And I would also like to thank the wider Oireachtas staff - in particular the debates staff who ensured that transcripts of each day's public hearings were made available in a timely and efficient manner; and the parliamentary ushers and restaurant staff who were on hand, despite many early mornings and very late nights - and one which I hope we do not have this evening and that we finish on time.

So with that said, I would now like to commence today's proceedings and in doing so, I'd like to welcome Mr. Ajai Chopra before the committee. Our first session today is with Mr. Chopra and we will hear from him. He is a former deputy director of the IMF. Mr. Chopra worked for three decades at the International Monetary Fund, where his career focused upon country surveillance and IMF lending programmes, primarily in Europe and Asia but also into Latin America and Africa. He was responsible for the design and monitoring of Ireland's financial rescue plan from 2010 to 2013. His final position in the IMF... as deputy director of the IMF's European department. Mr. Chopra, you're very welcome, and I would like to acknowledge that you're appearing here today as a voluntary witness.

Before hearing from you, I'd like to advise you that, as 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're directed by the Chairman to cease giving evidence in relation to a particular matter and you continue to so do, 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, but 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, and members of the public and journalists are reminded that these documents are confidential and they should not publish any of the documents so displayed. So with that said, if I can now ask the clerk to administer the affirmation to Mr. Chopra, please.