In the course of a Seanad debate on 5 October 2005, the Minister for Finance, Mr Brian Cowen, made a number of points relating to Revenue prosecution policy and the use of tax settlements.

Among other matters, he commented that:

“The Revenue Commissioners advise me that they are satisfied with the level of success achieved to date in criminal prosecutions for tax evasion in the courts, but are determined and confident that their new approach and the establishment of the investigations and prosecutions division will increase the numbers of such cases investigated. It has done so already. The level or severity of the sentences imposed is a matter for the courts but it should be remembered that the impact on a defendant is not limited to the sentence imposed by the court. For example, in one of the cases accepted for investigation in 1999 in which a conviction followed in 2003, a total fine of €1,750 was imposed. However, the convicted person and his company settled their liability to Revenue by paying in excess of €1.65 million, included in which was a substantial civil penalty.

“The courts are influenced by the fact that the Revenue Commissioners impose heavy penalties. In the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeal in the case of the Director of Public Prosecutions v. Redmond the Court said, and I quote,

• 'It is plainly not possible for a sentencing court in a case such as this to ignore the fact that other penalties, which may be much greater in amount than the cumulative sum of the maximum fines for those charges, have already been made.' (end quotation)

“In the course of the large scale investigation projects undertaken by Revenue in recent years, such as the investigation into the bogus non-resident account holders and offshore account holders, taxpayers who have paid additional taxes are likely to have committed revenue offences. Due to the vast scale of these investigations and the potential they have to lock up Revenue resources for years, the approach taken has been a pragmatic one, aimed at collecting the undeclared taxes together with interest and substantial penalties in the shortest possible time. It would have been impractical for Revenue to adopt a criminal investigation approach in each of these cases, and it would have secured far less by way of settlements.”

The Minister also stated, referring to last year's report of the Revenue Powers Review Group, that he intended to return to some of the remaining recommendations “which require further consultation and careful consideration for future implementation”.