Mr. Niall Cody:

As I outlined in my statement, we started a process around offshore accounts and evasion back in 2003. We have instigated 40 High Court orders compelling the financial institutions based in Ireland to provide us with details of Irish residents who opened accounts. We went through that whole process and got considerable information from financial institutions based in the State. Even before that, the whole issue of the bogus non-resident accounts would have been the focus of the Committee of Public Accounts in an investigation that started in 1999. The challenge around whether financial institutions encourage or advise people to open a bogus non-resident account or divert money offshore is getting proof. We have pursued High Court orders to get the information and are fairly satisfied that we got it.

The challenge then became subsidiaries based in the Isle of Man. One of the financial institutions actually passed a special resolution to encourage the Isle of Man operation to provide us with the information. However, when it came to it with the Isle of Man company, the matter ended up in the Isle of Man courts, and the court said it should not provide that information. It is in the light of the information in the Paradise Papers and the comments made by the financial institutions that we have now taken the step to write to them. We have all heard the comments that were made. We have asked them to provide us with information that is within their control or the control of subsidiaries or entities, liquidated or not. We await the outcome of that.