The existence of the Ansbacher deposits was uncovered during the McCracken tribunal. The deposits contained money which was deposited on the Cayman Islands, but which the Cayman bank had, in turn, deposited with the Dublin bank Guinness & Mahon or, after 1991, with Irish Intercontinental Bank.

All details are not yet known, but it seems depositors acted through the late Mr Des Traynor, a former executive of Guinness & Mahon and chairman of the Cayman bank, Ansbacher Ltd. The accounts kept in the Dublin banks were general accounts, holding money on behalf of Ansbacher Ltd. To know how much was owned by individual depositors an investigator would need to see the files kept on the Cayman Islands, or the coded "memorandum accounts" in Dublin.

Account holders who wished to withdraw money could contact Mr Traynor and he would arrange to have drafts delivered to them, or that cash would be waiting for them in the Dublin bank. In December 1987, £58,000 in cash from the deposits was collected from Guinness & Mahon by, or on behalf of, the former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey.