An application for the appointment of a High Court inspector to investigate the Ansbacher deposits is due to be heard tomorrow. If an inspector is appointed to inquire into the accounts held with Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd, the names of the senior figures who held funds in the accounts may eventually become known.

It is not known whether the bank will challenge the order. When contacted by The Irish Times last night, the bank would not make anyone available to make an official comment.

The deposits were held in Guinness & Mahon Bank and Irish Intercontinental Bank in Dublin, in accounts in the name of the Ansbacher bank. At one stage, the secret accounts held £38 million, and some 400 accounts are believed to have been involved.

In July, the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, received a confidential report from an authorised officer, Mr Gerard Ryan, whom she appointed to investigate Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd, the Cayman Islands bank which lodged the accounts in Dublin.

Counsel for Ms Harney was subsequently granted permission to serve papers on Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd, the first step in the appointment of a High Court inspector.

A High Court inspector would have the power to access documents and interview individuals under oath. It is likely that any depositors who become known to the inspector will be interviewed. Reports of inspectors appointed under Section 8 of the Companies Act 1990 are published, unlike those of authorised officers.

Ms Harney appointed Mr Ryan in September 1997 to investigate possible breaches of company law at Celtic Helicopters on foot of details contained in the report of the McCracken (Dunnes Payments) Tribunal. He was subsequently appointed to Guinness & Mahon, Irish Intercontinental Bank and to Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd, among other companies.

The Ansbacher deposits system was set up by the late Mr Des Traynor, the former de facto chief executive of Guinness & Mahon Bank. Money owned by various depositors was recorded in "memorandum accounts", to which Mr Traynor and only a few others had access.