Results 8,121-8,140 of 21,498 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Right, but we have something that we wish Revenue to have.

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: I appreciate that. It was exactly for those reasons that we made the request for the Minister to pass it to Revenue rather than doing so directly ourselves. I want to take Ms Feehily back to something she has said a number of times here today. She has put very strong emphasis on the fact that by the middle of 2003 Revenue essentially had their case base established. Is that right, Ms...

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Was that for project Ansbacher?

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: The official has said that, in fact, it was late 2003 that discovery was made of the very secret Ansbacher accounts, the black briefcase or whatever label Ms Feehily wishes to put on it. Therefore, it is at that stage it is alleged that this secret ledger is discovered. Thereafter, in the spring of 2004 that information is made known to the relevant Minister and by the summer of 2004 the...

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am very conscious of the restrictions of the meeting. I do not want to trespass into any area that is not appropriate for the committee. However, I want to get clarity on this point. Is Ms Feehily saying that the new ledger as described by the official had already been discovered by the Revenue Commissioners so that while it may have been new to him, it was not new to them?...

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: I understand. However, this is what a lot of this hinges on. I do not wish to be pedantic, but this is critical. At the core of his complaint - quite aside from the political arm of things and obstruction, which it is not proper for Ms Feehily to comment on and I will not ask her to do so - is that in late 2003, early 2004, he discovered a secret ledger. He leaves aside the political...

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: He passed on this information. From Ms Feehily's point of view, it was adequately researched and it assisted in the established inquiries.

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: It did not add any new additional names.

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Were any of the cases that were forwarded in the secret ledger disproved or set aside or considered to be inaccurate or irrelevant?

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Is it not astonishing given how closely he worked with Revenue, that he comes across something at that point in time which he regards as very new, as very secret and a new ledger but the Revenue said it was not so new and not so secret? That is the central point in his submission. That is his interpretation. Even accepting that the Revenue has broader powers, that troubles me. The Revenue...

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am conscious of my time. We have discussed the issue of the tax amnesty and that Revenue had a view, an instinct or a commentary on that. Did Revenue have a view, an instinct or a commentary on the closing down of that inquiry in 2004? In 2003, the very secret ledger was discovered, which Ms Feehily says was not so secret. It was made known to the powers that be in spring 2004, but by...

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: My final question is specific and relates to a short report that the official made to the Minister of the day in April 2008. It related to a payment of $400,000 by Alcan Packaging Limited made on 23 June 1983 into Ansbacher deposits. The official says that, because at the time of the discovery of this matter his investigation had been shut down, he was not in a position to get to the bottom...

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: We have a piece of substantiating material in the dossier to support the fact of the lodgement of that substantial amount of money in 1983.

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: The great difficulty in which we find ourselves while trying to untangle these matters is that Ms Feehily and her officials are restricted, as are we. It does not take from the seriousness of what is alleged. They are only allegations. Nonetheless, I thank the witnesses for their presence and co-operation.

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: I have a short question relating to process. Let us imagine somebody - either the Department or the authorised officer - passed a dossier or file to Ms Feehily in which I was named in whatever form as the holder or someone with beneficial ownership of one of these accounts. What is the process? Clearly, Revenue has to make contact with me at some level to advise as part of the...

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: What happens? Revenue gets the information. What is the next thing that happens in respect of people alleged to be involved?

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Are they made aware of that fact?

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: How would that hold up in respect of Ansbacher? Let us imagine that in the initial tranche of information, I came to Revenue's attention and I was to be scrutinised or there was to be some form of assessment or investigation. At what point does Revenue make contact with me to alert me to this fact?