Parish priest, taxi driver among 158 tax defaulters

A parish priest in Co Carlow was among 158 tax defaulters who made settlements with the Revenue totalling €27.68 million in the third quarter of the year.

These published settlements - including €9.3 million from a building contractor in Rathcoole, west Dublin - brought to €163.87 million the yield from all settlements in the three months to September as a result of its audit and investigations programme.

Father Philip O'Shea, parish priest of Myshall and Drumphea in Co Carlow, paid a total of €92,315 arising from an underdeclaration of income tax uncovered in the investigation into offshore assets. This included €62,984 in interest and penalties.

Father O'Shea was not at home yesterday, although his case was described as an "an innocent saving of funds" by the curate in the parish, Father Brendan Howard.

"Father O'Shea is a genuine man and he never wanted to defraud anyone. It came as shock to him to discover that this was going to be revealed," he said.

Prominent defaulters who settled in the period included the estate of the late John Guinness, former chairman of Guinness & Mahon Bank, and the Co Wexford division of Wright's of Howth, the north Dublin fish supplier.

Mr Guinness's estate paid a settlement of €116,000 for underdeclared income tax and capital gains tax arising from the investigation into the Ansbacher affair.

Wrights of Howth Export Kilmore Quay Ltd paid a settlement of €44,329 for underdeclared PAYE and PRSI after a Revenue audit.

Payments on a much larger scale came from another fish distributor at Kilmore Quay, O'Flaherty Brothers Ltd, and its four directors. After a Revenue audit, their settlements totalled €1.9 million. This included €629,129 from the company. The settlements from the individual directors, all of them fishermen, were: John O'Flaherty (€436,156); Denis O'Flaherty (€325,235); Séamus O'Flaherty (€299,148); and Brendan O'Flaherty (€219,911).

Dún Laoghaire Rathdown county council made a settlement of of €39,647 arising from an under-declaration of VAT. This was the second VAT settlement this year from a public body, the first being a payment of €106,386 from South Dublin County Council.

Excluding the €9.3 million settlement from Rathcoole-based Stanley Macadam Road Surfacing and related entities, the biggest individual settlement was a sum of €1.04 million from Co Meath businessman Patrick Duff. A shoe salesman and company director based in Kells, Mr Duff paid unpaid VAT and income tax of €266,893 and interest and penalties of €769,106 arsing from the investigation into bogus non-resident accounts.

Some €8.99 million was collected in the three-month period from 73 defaulters as a result of the non-resident accounts investigation, which is now winding down.

However, the latest list of defaulters included the first settlements from the new investigation into single premium accounts. There were four such settlements, totalling €1.03 million.

Revenue said that 12 of the settlements exceeded €500,000, including payment of €728,873 from Donegal businessman Barry Richardson. A company director based in Derrybeg, his settlement was in respect of underdeclared income tax.

Other big settlements included payment of €663,827 in respect of underdeclared income tax and VAT from the estate of the late Maurice O'Donoghue, a Killarney-based company director. Baltinglass publican Patrick O'Halloran paid a settlement of €601,317 in respect of underdeclared income tax, uncovered in the investigation into offshore assets.

Other settlements included a payment of €585,149 from Rathgar-based company director Martin Lydon and payment of €583,901 from Buncrana-based company director Anthony Cassidy.

A Templeogue-based taxi-driver, Brendan Murphy, made a settlement of €576,862 for under-declared income tax. A Tullamore curtain and fabric supplier, Martin Bolton, paid €575,000 for underdeclared income tax and VAT.

A Co Roscommon landlord, farmer and company director, Percy Hanly, paid a settlement of €463,380 for underdeclared income tax, VAT and capital gains tax.