How they were compiled
THE TWO reports published yesterday examined the causes of Ireland's banking crisis. Together they will form the basis of a secondary inquiry to be carried out by a Statutory Commission of Investigation.
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.
Regling was appointed in January and his co-author was brought on board in February.
Honohan led a team comprising Paul Gorecki, seconded from the Economic & Social Research Institute; employee Donal Donovan, formerly a senior adviser with the IMF; and Rafique Mottiar, who previously worked on monetary policy in the Central Bank.
In preparing the report, the team conducted about 120 hours of interviews 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. However, the report does not mention any interviews with Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan or any former Anglo Irish Bank executives.
Among those interviewed by Regling and Watson were bankers, central bankers, Government officials, politicians and financial regulators. They also met officials from the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the IMF.