Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The Taoiseach, as Minister for Finance, was the boss of the Revenue at the time. Did he seek and receive clearance from the Revenue that he can say that he has no tax liability? A loan not repaid after 13 years, with an express refusal to accept repayment in the case of certain donors, is a gift with tax implications. Did he get clearance? If the payments constituted loans, what does the Taoiseach calculate that he now owes? What was the rate of compound interest, and how much is now outstanding?

On the question of accepting €50,000, surely that breached the ministerial code of conduct even then. The Taoiseach has spoken of Mauritius and other outrageous allegations made against him that I am certain are entirely baseless. It reminds me of his statement last night that he had no bank account between 1987 and 1994. Is he telling the House that when he was Minister for Finance and responsible for running the country's Exchequer he had no bank account in the jurisdiction? Did he have one outside the jurisdiction, or was there no bank account during that entire period?

Perhaps the Taoiseach might be specific about the Manchester event. Was there a series of such events but a single payment? He referred in the interview to his having paid capital gains and gift tax, but he did not say on what he had paid it or why it was liable.

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