Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Our witnesses are all very welcome to the committee meeting. I welcome members and viewers who may be watching the proceedings on Oireachtas TV to this public session meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach. The purpose of today's meeting is to begin pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the Central Bank (Individual Accountability Framework) Bill 2021. We are joined from the Central Bank by Mr. Gerry Cross, director of financial regulation policy and risk, and Ms Seána Cunningham, director of enforcement and anti-money laundering. The format of the meeting is that the witnesses will make some brief opening remarks, which will be followed by a question and answer session with the members.

The usual notice about privilege applies. For the information of members who are not accustomed and visitors, we should avoid making statements that in any way impugn or malign anybody outside of the committee or mentioning them in such a way that they may be identified. That would be regarded as a breach of privilege.

I remind members attending remotely of the constitutional requirement that members must be physically present within the confines of the place in which Parliament has chosen to sit, namely Leinster House, in order to participate in public meetings.

I now invite Mr. Cross to make his opening remarks.