It will be a case of musical chairs between the lawyers and the politicians at the DIRT inquiry this coming week. Five former ministers for finance are expected to be questioned on Wednesday about what they knew about the use of bogus non-resident accounts which were opened to avoid the payment of tax on deposit interest.
However, in a departure from the committee's by now familiar format, the former ministers, who held the finance portfolio between 1986 and 1997, will be put through their paces by the inquiry's legal team. The committee chairman, Mr Jim Mitchell, and his five political colleagues will take a back seat.
The decision to change the committee's operating format was taken to avoid any perception of political bias by members questioning their political colleagues.
So the inquiry's three senior counsel - Mr Frank Clark, Ms Mary Irvine and Mr Paul Gilligan - will ask the questions. The answers will be provided by former finance ministers Mr John Bruton (1986-87); Mr Ray MacSharry (1987-88); Mr Albert Reynolds (1988-91); the present Taoiseach, Mr Ahern (1991-94); and Mr Ruairi Quinn (1994-97).
It is understood that the committee has no plans to call Mr Alan Dukes. He was minister for finance in 1983 when the then Fine Gael-Labour government removed from that year's Finance Bill an obligation on those opening non-resident accounts to file affidavits.
The committee members will be able to suggest possible questions to the lawyers before next week's appearance by the former ministers. However, once the hearings begin, they will, for the first time since the inquiry began on August 31st last, sit silently and listen to the proceedings.
Mr Mitchell will continue to chair the proceedings, directing the inquiry and offering clarification on any contentious issues which may arise. However, like his colleagues, he will not take his turn in questioning the five political witnesses, leaving that task to the inquiry's lawyers.
They are likely to want to establish, in the first instance, just how aware each of the former ministers was about the bogus non-resident accounts problem, and what action, if any, they took to tackle the issue.
Much interest will focus on what each of the former ministers made of the evidence given at the start of the inquiry by a series of senior civil servants who held the top positions in the Department of Finance over the period the committee is investigating.
In the exchanges between committee members and senior civil servants, the latter group offered the argument that officials acted under ministerial direction.
So essentially the buck stopped there. Mr Maurice Doyle, who was secretary of the Department of Finance from 1981 to 1987 and governor of the Central Bank from 1987 to 1994, said: "Policy is not made by Departments, it is made by governments."
Mr Sean Cromien, who was secretary of the Department of Finance from 1987 to 1994, said: "The advice of the Civil Service is influenced by their discussions with ministers." In his experience, Mr Cromien said, "it was easier to persuade governments to deal with tax avoidance than to deal with tax evasion."
The authorities were aware that thousands of members of the public were evading taxes through bogus non-resident accounts. However, no clampdown was undertaken out of concern, it has been argued, that any action would see a flight of capital from the State.
It will be interesting to hear what the former finance ministers made of this advice and whether they asked to see quantitative evidence to support the argument.
The inquiry's lawyers are also likely to seek assertions from each former minister as to whether the Revenue Commissioners were as impotent in addressing the bogus non-resident accounts problem as its officials have claimed. They are expected to be asked what additional powers the Revenue sought and what their response was to any such requests.
GIVEN the status of ACC as a State-owned financial institution, the former ministers are likely to recall their knowledge of the operations of the bank. The committee has heard from Ernst and Young, external auditors to ACC, that the bank had a DIRT liability of some £17.5 million.
The former Fianna Fail minister for finance, Mr Ray MacSharry, is likely to be asked to give his interpretation of two documents already discussed at committee hearings. A Department of Finance note of a 1987 meeting observed that the Revenue Commissioners had agreed to "consult" the Central Bank before using its powers to inspect the declaration forms which had to be completed by those opening non-resident accounts. This memo noted that Mr MacSharry was concerned about the possible impact on the economy of such a move.
Mr MacSharry will also be asked for his recollection of what took place at a meeting with AIB executives in 1987. An internal AIB memo suggested that he had assured the banks in 1987 that they had little cause to worry about the Revenue Commissioners inspecting non-resident account declaration forms.
It observed that the minister indicated that "inspectability would not be an issue at any time and provision will be made in the 1988 Finance Act to cater for this", and that he might even consider altering the rules. However, a senior official at the Department of Finance, Mr Michael Tutty, who was at that 1987 meeting, has already told the committee that he has no recollection of anybody supporting that assurance.
When the five former ministers have given their evidence, the inquiry will adjourn until October 7th. When it meets again next month, it will allow three days for cross-examination of witnesses, and then it will hear closing submissions.
Mr Mitchell has said he expects a final report to be published by early December.