Grocer and director top defaulter list

A GROCER with an address in Pimlico, Dublin, made a €1.5 million settlement with the Revenue Commissioners, according to the latest list of tax defaulters published yesterday.

James Geoghegan, of John Street South, Pimlico, made the payment arising from the underdeclaration of income tax and VAT. The tax was €688,462 with the rest of the settlement arising from interest and penalties.

Mr Geoghegan was one of two defaulters who made payments of in excess of €1 million during the July to September period. The second was for €1.87 million and was made by Robert Galbraith, a company director with an address in Curracloe, Co Wexford.

Mr Galbraith is a director of a number of companies including Two Wheels Ltd, which has its registered offices at Honda Distributors (Ireland) in the M50 Business Park, Ballymount, Dublin 12.

His settlement arose from the underdeclaration of income tax and VAT, with the tax being €930,468 and the rest arising from interest and penalties.

A total of 72 settlements appear in the latest list, totalling €13.26 million, a relatively small figure for a quarterly list.

Included among the settlements are Westport nightclub proprietors Joseph and Ann Corcoran, who paid €605,642, and company director Sean Daly, of Tubrid, Kenmare, Co Kerry, who made a settlement of €598,075.

Dental technician Gerard Field, of Rathmore Avenue, Stillorgan, Co Dublin, made a settlement of €639,602. A health food retailer, Sayerscourt (Grafton St) Ltd, made a €255,345 settlement arising from the underdeclaration of PAYE and PRSI.

A second list of persons against whom a court imposed penalties arising from Revenue issues was also published. It showed that actor Padraic Breathnach, of St John’s Place, Galway, was fined €1,250 for the failure to lodge income tax returns. Mr Breathnach has appeared in the TV series Killinaskully.

Others who were fined for not filing income tax returns included a number of accountants and solicitors, a medical doctor, (Dorothy Niall, of Conranstown, Castletowngeoghegan, Co Westmeath), and a priest (Christopher McCormack, of the Parochial House, Fohenagh, Ballinasloe, Co Galway).

Thirty people were fined or jailed for cigarette smuggling. Two Lithuanians with addresses in Lithuania were jailed for three days; Thomas McTasney, with an address at Alcore Puerta Del Carmen, Lanzarote, was jailed for four days; and Edijs Plaudis, with an address at Dunbhrian, Glack, Longford Town, was given a suspended sentence of one month.

Ten people were fined for the illegal selling of cigarettes. Pawel Zdzitowiecki of Little Island, Co Cork, was jailed for four months.