Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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As we have a quorum, the Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis is now in public session, and we will commence session 1 this morning with a public hearing with Mr. Frank Daly and Mr. Brendan McDonagh of NAMA. Doing so, I would like to welcome everyone to the 19th public hearing of the Joint Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis. As these committees proceed, the cold shadow of the banking and financial crisis can still be felt and seen in every corner of Ireland, yet we do not have a full picture of the events leading up to and during and after the crisis, and gaps still remain in our knowledge of that time. It is this committee's responsibility to unearth those missing pieces and to put them together. In commencing the Nexus Phase of the inquiry, I want to welcome members of the public watching our proceedings live this morning. You will have 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 will be able to see and hear from them as they are questioned and give their evidence to this committee. This inquiry has been set up to serve you, the Irish people, to get the answers and questions about the crisis and to ensure that a crisis of this nature is never revisited upon the Irish people again. As a committee we intend to fulfil that duty for you.

The Context Phase of the inquiry, which has just completed, served a purpose. It set out the background of the crisis and has prepared the ground for the Nexus Phase of public hearings, which start today. During this phase, the committee will engage with institutions and individuals who had central roles during the crisis period. This represents a significant step up in activity and responsibility for all, both the committee and the banking inquiry team, which is working behind the scenes. It will focus upon three broad elements: banking systems and practices; regulatory and supervisory systems and practices; and crisis management systems and policy responses, and how these three elements interacted with each other. It will identify and analyse all evidence and produce a final report in November.

We know we are facing into a huge task with over 64 public hearings ahead of us and we will be hearing from over 50 witnesses during that time, along with receiving witness statements. The inquiry has sought and received nearly 40,000 documents to date, amounting to hundreds of thousands of pages. This is the first time that all of the key documents over this period have been collated and examined in one place at one time. The real strength of the inquiry is its ability not to look at one document in isolation but to draw together the various strands and various sources along with the key public testimony to get a better picture of what happened to put in place the pieces of that jigsaw.

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 significant behind-the-scenes work to support the public hearings leading to the final report, and in this regard I would like to thank the secretariat and investigators for their work they have done to date and will continue to do so on behalf of this inquiry.

Now I just want to address a number of matters to the media who are very, very welcome to our hearings and proceedings this morning. We recognise and appreciate the important role you've played and continue to play in these proceedings and coverage and reporting of these proceedings is of confidential information which can impair the working inquiry, and in that regard I just want to explain a number of matters. As part of our hearings and to facilitate them, you will be afforded with an opportunity to see some of the documentation displayed in this room which will be up on the monitors as the proceeding is actually taking place. The also, these ... it should be recognised though that this is to facilitate the reporting and these documents are not being published by the committee at this stage and are not for publication in that regard, so I just want to draw your attention to the restrictions and constraints on reporting under section 41 of the new Act, which creates an offence of publishing confidential documents or their content regardless of how the documents are acquired but in facilitating the proceedings this morning these documents will be displayed. I'm sure that you share our desire that the integrity of the inquiry is maintained and that it is successful in addressing the reasons Ireland experienced the banking crisis and that this will be reflected in your own reporting of proceedings today.

Finally I'd like to thank, take this opportunity to thank all the committee members for their hard work and commitment in getting to this stage. The fact we completed the context phase and are now starting the Nexus Phase on schedule reflects the co-operative and positive response and approach that the committee has adopted in how we set about our work and how we have worked as a team. A responsibility now rests on the shoulders of the members of this committee. It is the first committee to carry out its work under the new legislation, and has been entrusted to examine one of the major events in the history of the State, and a crisis which has impacted upon every household in Ireland. Only by having a complete picture of what happened can we learn lessons and apply these lessons into the future; only then can we move on as a nation, when confident that a crisis like this will never be revisited upon us all again.

So with that said, our witnesses today are Mr. Frank Daly, chairman, and Mr. Brendan McDonagh, CEO of NAMA. Mr. Frank Daly was appointed as chairman of the National Asset Management Agency by the Minister for Finance in December 2009. He also currently chairs the NAMA Northern Ireland advisory committee and previous to his NAMA appointment has served as a public interest director of the Irish ... of Anglo Irish Bank under the banks guarantee scheme and chairman of the commission of taxation which was established to review the structure and efficiency of the Irish taxation system. From 1963 to 2008 he worked in the Revenue Commissioners, becoming a commissioner in 1996 and then chairman of the Revenue Commissioners. He was appointed to the position on 5 May 2009 by the then Minister for Finance, Mr. Brian Lenihan. From 1994 to 2009 he worked with the National Treasury Management Agency where he was financial controller and later director of finance, technology and risk. Previously he worked for a number of years with the Electricity Supply Board of Ireland, ESB, in a number of areas. Mr. Daly and Mr. McDonagh you're very welcome in front of the inquiry this morning.

Now to commence with some of the formal proceedings and, in doing so, I would like to advise the witnesses that by virtue of section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect to 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 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, and 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 and time frame of this inquiry; and I will then, on that basis, advise the utmost caution should be taken not to prejudice those proceedings which I spoke about.

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, as I have mentioned here in the committee room. For those sitting in the gallery those documents will be displayed on the screen to your left. Members of the public and journalists are reminded that these documents are confidential and they should not be published ... they should not be publishing any of the documents so displayed. The witnesses have been directed to attend this meeting of the joint inquiry into the banking crisis, and you will be furnished with booklets of core documents. These are before the committee which will be relied upon now in questioning and form part of the evidence of the final inquiry itself.

I will ask the Clerk to administer the oath of affirmation to you, Mr. Daly and Mr. McDonagh.