Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

Let us take as a model the health campaigns in respect of tobacco and state that tax evasion can seriously damage your reputation and your pocket.

I have a number of reservations which I will try to express reasonably quickly. There is no doubt that officials of banks and other financial institutions encouraged people — they often germinated the idea in those people's minds in the first instance — to open non-resident accounts. The idea of prosecuting them seems to have been brushed aside but I hope that some individuals will take civil cases and that some of these will be successful.

Another point which must be borne in mind and which is often forgotten is that we are operating in a totally different context than was the case 20 years ago. At that time we had a high tax regime which — it does not justify it in any way whatsoever — encouraged evasion, as every country has discovered. It was difficult when we had a currency of our own to pursue hot money because there was a danger of creating black holes, particularly in terms of withholding tax. The single currency has helped us to adopt a much more rigorous approach because the effects of money leaving the country are no longer the same as they were previously.

Senator McDowell gave a fair account of the 1993 tax amnesty. I agree that it was a marginal exercise. If memory serves, it raised approximately £230 million and followed a much more successful amnesty in 1988 which raised £500 million. Part of the reason for its success is that confidentiality was promised and guaranteed.

There are signs, with the establishment of the new branch, of a realisation that a great deal of expertise is needed to deal with the type of issue highlighted by the tribunals. I am sure that the tribunals have only shown the tip of the iceberg. Labyrinthine accounting practices have been used which make it extremely difficult to know who holds income and where.

I recall being shocked approximately ten years ago, when my party was in government with Labour, at a dinner at which a senior executive of a well known media organisation was present. He and several others began giving out about a man much in the news at present, namely, the then Commissioner Flynn, in respect of his socialist tendencies in Europe. The topic of conversation was the social charter. The individual in question said to me that he hoped the Government was not pursuing tax evasion too seriously.

There is a large and complex task to be undertaken in respect of a few people on higher incomes. The Revenue Commissioners have a great deal more to do. As Senator Higgins stated, the Revenue Commissioners are, on the whole, successful in capturing evasion by relatively small people or businessmen. I wish we could be convinced that they were equally successful in dealing with all the bigger individuals.