The two reports published today examined the causes of Ireland’s banking crisis. Together they will form the basis of a secondary enquiry to be carried out by a Statutory Commission of Investigation.
The reports were commissioned by the Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan.
In February 2010, the Governor of the Central Bank Patrick Honohan was tasked with conducting a preliminary investigation into the performance of the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator from 2003 to the end of September 2008.
In parallel to this report, German economist Klaus Regling and former International Monetary Fund (IMF) official Max Watson conducted a wider enquiry into the external and domestic factors that led to the banking crisis in Ireland. Mr Regling was appointed in January, and his co-author was brought on board in February.
A number of meetings took place between the two teams to avoid unnecessary duplication.
Mr Honohan led a team comprising Paul Gorecki, seconded from the Economic & Social Research Institute, Donal Donovan, formerly a senior advisor with the IMF, and Rafique Mottiar, who previously worked on monetary policy in the Central Bank.
In preparing the report, Mr Honohan's team conducted about 120 hours of interviews. They met with key officials in the Central Bank, including former governor John Hurley. Three former bankers were also interviewed: ex-AIB chief executive Eugene Sheehy, former chair of Irish Nationwide Building Society Michael Walsh and former head of Bank of Ireland Brian Goggin.
Among those interviewed by Regling and Watson were bankers, central bankers, Government officials, politicians and financial regulators. They also met with officials from the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the IMF.