The chairman of the Revenue Commissioners has said he is not apprehensive about the new payments-to-politicians tribunal which will include the Revenue Commissioners' role in collecting taxes from Mr Charles Haughey and Mr Michael Lowry within its terms of reference. Mr Cathal Mac Domhnaill, who was at the launch of a M.Sc. in taxation course in Dublin City University yesterday, said the Moriarty Tribunal would be looking at a few items out of millions which the Revenue Commissioners had dealt with, and at companies which the Revenue had treated systematically.

"You are always worried that something you do not know about will pop out of the woodwork, but with my knowledge of the situation at the moment, I am not apprehensive," he said.

The new tribunal will ask "whether the Revenue Commissioners availed fully, properly and in a timely manner in exercising the powers available to them in collecting or seeking to collect the taxation due by Mr Michael Lowry and Mr Charles Haughey...".

On this week's Comptroller and Auditor General's annual report which queried the number of criminal prosecutions in certain tax cases, Mr Mac Domhnaill said it took huge resources to get a conviction because of the rules on the onus of proof. He said the Revenue had now adopted a more aggressive stance.