The State's most senior law officers are likely to be asked to appear before the Dail Committee of Public Accounts (PAC) this autumn to discuss ways of securing more prosecutions for serious tax offences. The committee's members were "astonished" to learn that only eight convictions were secured between April 1997 and last June, its chairman Mr Jim Mitchell TD said yesterday.
An appearance by the Director of Public Prosecutions before an Oireachtas committee would be the first by a holder of that office.
Publishing a report which said the Revenue Commissioners faced serious challenges to restore public confidence in the tax collection system, Mr Mitchell said the Attorney General, the DPP and senior civil servants were "virtually certain" to be called before his committee. These included the the secretaries general the Departments of Finance and Mr Dermot Quigley, chairman of the Revenue Commissioners.
The review of the office of the Commissioners, which called for a radical restructuring of its governing board and management structure, was initiated after the PAC's DIRT Inquiry last year uncovered significant evasion of the tax among the leading financial institutions.
The report's authors - who included Mr Quigley - said they "were not persuaded" that the establishment of a Revenue Court with sole responsibility for serious tax offences would lead to a rise in prosecutions.
But Mr Mitchell said the matter should be looked at again. PAC members believed a dedicated Revenue Court could use specialist tax and accounting expertise and provide a means for assessing the extent of tax evasion. Such a court would also reduce delays in the legal process, Mr Mitchell said.
"There has been a culture in the Revenue of non-prosecution and settlement. The consensus of the committee is that jailing has to be an issue.
"It is clear that the legal system in this State is there to deal with working class offenders and not white-collar offences. That culture has to end and we feel that it has been a particular problem in the Revenue area."
The Revenue said the review was a "balanced assessment", adding that its "approach" needed improvement in some key areas.
The proposal to appoint three new non-executive directors - in addition the the three commissioners - in a new governing board would mean "a significant opening up of the organisation to outside views and expertise", it said in a statement.
Yet Mr Mitchell said PAC members believed the role of chief executive - or head of office - and chairman of the Commissioners should not be combined, as suggested in the report. "The consensus - and certainly my view - is that the chairman should be separate from the chief executive."
Mr Mitchell was also unhappy with the findings on the Revenue's appeals system. The report said the "procedures work satisfactorily", but Mr Mitchell said questions remained over how the system was policed. "We will almost certainly want more done about the appeals commissioners."
