Dail record may jog ministers' memories

The Dail Committee of Public Accounts (PAC) sub-committee, which published its DIRT report this week, found that "claims of failure of political will are groundless, as no official proposal [for confronting the bogus non-resident account problem] ever reached the minister".

The Department of Finance was criticised by the sub-committee in its findings for failing to bring proposals forward to any minister for finance during the period 1986 to 1998. In essence, the report concluded that the failure to act was the fault of the civil servants rather than the politicians.

The sub-committee did include some criticisms of former ministers, though these were in the body of its report rather than in its lists of findings. The report stated: "The sub-committee concludes that ministers should have satisfied themselves that there were adequate procedures and resources in place within the [Office of the] Revenue Commissioners to ensure the proper and fair application of the law as enacted by the Oireachtas."

The sub-committee also stated that none of the ministers "had adequate information systems in place to ensure that they were fully informed and kept up to date on all issues of significance in all sections of the Department or the other agencies for which they had responsibility".

Yet the records of the Oireachtas show that that the problem of bogus non-resident accounts was well known in the early 1990s.

Ironically, the debates in which most mention of the issue was made were those surrounding the 1993 tax amnesty, a measure which the minister for finance of the day, Mr Bertie Ahern, said would provide an opportunity for tax defaulters with bogus non-resident accounts to regularise their affairs.

The amnesty, of course, was a political initiative introduced against official advice.

During a debate on the amnesty in the Seanad in June 1993, Mr Ahern said: "There is a view that all this money (undeclared income) is abroad. This is not the case. Much of it is in accounts in this country. Many people listening know what I mean by that. I understand from Central Bank sources and other sources that in some cities, towns or areas in the country, there are more foreign-owned bank accounts than domestic accounts. I find that extraordinary."

On the day of a Dail vote on the amnesty, Mr Ahern said there were about two million people active in the economy, but 15 million bank accounts. "Closing our eyes to this is an attempt to delude ourselves." The tax system had never been cleaned up and the amnesty was an attempt to do this, he said.

On June 30th, 1993, Mr Ahern said: "I receive hundreds of letters each day about revenue matters concerning owners of small shops and businesses, tradesmen and professionals who suppress their income each year."

On the same issue, the then Progressive Democrats TD, Mr Pat Cox, said: "The original aim of this amnesty was to recover hot money from abroad and it was then extended to recover what could be termed hot money at home, much of which may be in the form of non-resident accounts improperly held by Irish people ordinarily resident in the State who have managed, because of the laxity of the system, to get away with non-resident status."

Mr Pat Rabbitte, now of the Labour party and formerly of Democratic Left, and a member of the sub-committee, opposed the 1993 amnesty during the Dail debates.

At that time, he said: "The Minister in the debate on the Finance Bill told us that there were towns in this country where something in excess of 54 per cent of the accounts are registered outside the State. It is an extraordinary situation. I do not believe that having this kind of amnesty will change that culture."

The problem with bogus accounts persisted up to 1998 and no minister for finance decided he would ensure action was taken to deal with the matter.

The softness with which politicians were treated in the sub-committee's report contrasts with its treatment of civil servants and bankers, a point which is of added relevance in the context of the committee's overall hope that Oireachtas committees might replace tribunals as the vehicle for investigating controversies of public significance.

The former ministers for finance who gave evidence before the subcommittee were: Mr Ahern; Mr Ruairi Quinn; Mr Ray MacSharry; Mr John Bruton; and Mr Albert Reynolds.