Professor Philip Lane:

I will make a few points about transparency. As an institution, in the world of central banking and regulators, we are internationally recognised for our commitment to be as transparent as is feasible in terms of what we can do. In terms of transparency, we say it is quite unusual that in the middle of an investigation we are trying to put out real time updates every few months. It is a commitment to transparency. More generally, in terms of how we work we try to put out as much as we can. We disclose as much as we can. We hit a fundamental limit, which is the laws under which we operate. The legal system here has that law and it is a global principle. The basis for obtaining a lot of confidential information from banks remains with us. This is why it is very important that we have an Oireachtas committee that is committed to actively engaging with individual banks.