Tax expert on defaulters’ list pleads mea culpa on radio

A leading tax expert, who was named on the latest tax defaulters list, said he is “absolutely mortified” by the finding against him.

Mel Kilkenny, from Ballina in Co Tipperary, who lectures on tax at City Colleges in Dublin, made a settlement with Revenue of nearly €285,000 for the under-declaration of income. Mr Kilkenny took to the airwaves today to issue a very public mea culpa.

He described himself as a workaholic who regularly worked 18 hours a day but also as someone who rarely got things finished.

"Like everything else, I just couldn't get myself to do my tax returns, " he told RTÉ's Liveline programme.

“I knew eventually this day would come but for some fatalistic reason I just could never get myself to go and do the right thing, and as time went on, the burden and cost of fixing this was just impossible.”

Mr Kilkenny, who is the author of the Kilkenny Tax Publications, a series of textbooks used by students taking their Association of Chartered Certified Accountants examinations, said he was not trying to make excuses but just wanted to explain what had happened.

“Anyone who has ever worked knows that I’m a genuine and decent person but they’ll also know that I’m a disaster for trying to get any task done,” he said, noting his life had been a sequence unfinished endeavours.

“People will think I must have a fortune…I must have investments in properties…I have no money. I literally spent whatever I had…not on holidays because I worked 24/7.” Mr Kilkenny admitted his big mistake was not to employ an accountant.

He said he was unable to pay his debt and that Revenue would be taking his pension from the University of Limerick, where he previously worked as a lecturer before taking early retirement.