Banking Inquiry to resume hearings with Brian Cowen
7th July 2015
The Oireachtas Banking Inquiry will resume its hearings with former Taoiseach and Minster for Finance Brian Cowen tomorrow, Wednesday, 8th July.
The schedule for the meeting in Committee Room 1, Leinster House is:
Session 1: 9.30 am – 1.30am
Brian Cowen, former Taoiseach and Minister for Finance
Session 2: 2.30 pm – 6.00 pm
Brian Cowen, former Taoiseach and Minister for Finance
Chairman Ciaran Lynch TD said: “Tomorrow we will resume our hearings with former Taoiseach and Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen. At tomorrow morning’s session, we will focus on Mr Cowen’s tenure as Taoiseach, from his appointment in May 2008 until January 2009, encompassing the bank guarantee and the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank. In the afternoon session we will broadly focus on Mr Cowen’s tenure as Taoiseach, from January 2009 until the general election in early 2011, taking into account the bailout programme.
“Among the lines of inquiry the Committee will address with Mr Cowen in the coming meetings are: inter-departmental contact and the Memorandum of Understandings with other EU states on the issue of banking; the role of advisors in analysing the crisis, including crisis management options; the liquidity versus solvency debate; the appraisal of the conditions prior to increasing the Deposit Guarantee Scheme; the appropriateness of the bank guarantee decision; the effectiveness of reviews of banks’ loan books and capital adequacy;
“Mr Cowen will also be questioned on: the decision to nationalise Anglo in 2009 and a review of the alternatives available and/or considered; the establishment, operation and effectiveness of NAMA; the decision to recapitalise Anglo, AIB, Bank of Ireland, EBS, Permanent TSB and the alternatives available and/or considered; and the Credit Institutions Stabilisation Act and the effectiveness of the actions to merge AIB and EBS, Anglo and INBS and deposit transfers.”