Defaulters to boost `Iris'

The official Government publication, Iris Oifigiuil, has hit on a winning formula for boosting the circulation of what is normally a rather staid read. From the end of the month it will publish on a quarterly basis the Revenue Commissioners' lists of tax defaulters.Normally the lists appear as an appendix to the Commissioners' annual report and are keenly read.A Revenue spokeswoman said there were two reasons for changing the system. "Effectively, there could be an 18-month gap between the settlement and publication." The new system will ensure that the defaulters' lists are more current.She also said that, until now, the list was on the back of the report, and took up a substantial part of it.

"Basically, it was taking attention away from the annual report," she said.The first publication carrying the new section will be a bumper issue, with a list of defaulters from the first six months of 1997.Meanwhile, Mr Michael Norris, a tax consultant and one of three trustees of the Progressive Democrats party, was resigned to his fate this week, after he appeared in court on Wednesday to answer a charge of failing to file income tax returns. He was one of seven businessmen who had warrants issued for their arrest the previous day after they failed to appear at a District Court hearing.Mr Norris, who was the director of elections for Mr Michael McDowell in the last election, said he had been at fault and he accepted it. "Sometimes you get a lot of blows around the ears for something, and that is life, and you just have to take it."His case was adjourned to allow him to put his tax affairs in order.