Defaulter list totals €28m in settlements

A bookmaker, an artist and a butcher, as well a few former witnesses from recent tribunals, featured in the Revenue Commissioners quarterly list of tax defaulters published yesterday.

Ten settlements of €500,000 or more were on the list, which totalled some €28 million for the October to December 2012 period.

Topping the individual settlement list was Co Wicklow plant hire contractor Michael Healy of Clone, Aughrim, with a €2.02 million settlement (including interest and penalties of €1.13 million) for undeclared income tax/VAT of €694,000.

There were four entries for bookmakers in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, with settlements totalling more than €4 million.

Bookmaker Triona Harrington of The Square, Castlecomer, made a settlement of €1.37 million, while bookmaker Phelim O’Connell of Kilkenny Street paid €1.08 million for underdeclared tax.

Associated settlements listed were €217,000 for Harrington Bookmakers Ltd and €214,000 for Triona Harrington and Phelim O’Connell for underdeclaration of betting duty.

A single premium insurance product investigation case yielded a €1.04 million settlement from a Co Kilkenny company director and property owner. The settlement by Kevin Moore of Stancliffe, Greenshill, made up a large chunk of four cases in the Revenue insurance investigation, which yielded €1.68 million.

Also in the top five largest settlements was butcher and farmer Thomas Kearney of John Street, Waterford, who paid €1.18 million due to the underdeclaration of capital gains tax.

Despite the existence of an artists’ exemption, Co Wexford-based painter Mark O’Neill of Kilcarrig Bridge, Clonegal, was billed € 721,000 for the underdeclaration of income tax and VAT of €518,000.

Des Richardson

Other defaulters included former Fianna Fáil fundraiser Des Richardson, who made a settlement of €108,906 arising from the underdeclation of income tax. A company owned by Mr Richardson, Willdover Ltd, which featured in sittings of the Mahon Tribunal, made a €141,094 settlement.

Two men involved in building former Fianna Fáil politician Ray Burke’s home and who were investigated by the Flood Tribunal in connection with payments to him, were also named. Thomas F Brennan of Hillstown Stud, Clonsilla, Co Dublin; and Joseph B McGowan, of Mart Lane, Foxrock, Dublin 18, each settled for €400,000 for the non-declaration of €180,000 tax each.

The Flood Tribunal found that Burke’s Briarsgate home was not built in a normal commercial manner. It also found that companies linked to Brennan and McGowan builders made substantial offshore payments – totalling £125,000 – to Burke between 1982 and 1985.

Also listed yesterday were Mr Brennan’s brothers; Michael Brennan of Portan House, Clonee; and William J Brennan, of Woodcockstown, Drumee, Co Meath, each with settlements of €400,00 for tax due of €180,000 as identified by Revenue investigation cases.

Garland Homes Ltd of Greenmount Office Park in Dublin was billed €500,000 for underdeclaration of VAT.

The company’s owner, Felix Whelan, came to prominence in 2006 when he was served with an enforcement order to stop him demolishing a house in Palmerston Park, Dublin, for which he paid €7 million.