Although most of them avoided being named this week, the 120 people mentioned in the Ansbacher report of the authorised officer Gerard Ryan can expect letters shortly asking them to come in to discuss their affairs with the three High Court inspectors.
And the inspectors will not stop at a polite request. They have powers to require people to co-operate with them and to compel the production of documents. They can enlist the High Court to make orders in their support if necessary.
The inspectors are understood to have completed a study of Mr Ryan's report, and are looking for a premises from which to carry out their work. They and their soon-to-be-appointed back-up staff will waste little time in using their powers to find out how many of the 120 rich and powerful individuals are tax evaders.
There is no time limit on the investigation, but Government sources have guessed tentatively at three to six months. The Government will press for the publication of any interim or final reports from the inspectors. It appears inevitable that at some stage names will be named.
The Government has resisted all attempts to name them all now. Most of the 120 people - or "suspects" as the Tanaiste called them on Thursday - will wait for three to six months before knowing whether they will be publicly named as tax evaders. The two dozen who have already been named in the press have given varying reactions. Some strongly denied having any Ansbacher accounts, although some said they did have dealings in the past with Ansbacher (Cayman) or its original owner, Guinness & Mahon Bank. Some have said nothing at all. One, Jim Culliton, has resigned from several posts in the business world.
Almost all are believed to be senior figures in business, politics, semi-state boards or the professions. For many of them, the Cayman Islands have been playing a central part in their finances for over two decades, although the nature of their association with the schemes devised by the late Des Traynor varies; being named in the report does not mean one was engaged in wrongdoing.
This newspaper identified about two dozen of those named in the report, some of whom are identified in it as depositors. They include the former EU Commissioner, Fine Gael Attorney General and AIB chairman Peter Sutherland; the chairman of Independent News and Media Tony O'Reilly; two other directors of Fitzwilton and Independent News and Media Jim McCarthy and Vincent Ferguson; the chairman of Bord na Mona Pat Dineen; the late Fine Gael TD for Cork South Central Hugh Coveney; Fine Gael MEP Mary Banotti; the late Harry Murray, the founder of Murray's Rent-A-Car; another director of that company, Harry T. Murray; the architect Sam Stephenson; his former business partner, Arthur Gibney; Ken O'Reilly Hyland, chairman of Fianna Fail's fundraising committee during Charles Haughey's time as leader; and businessman Jim Culliton.
There was evidence of an extraordinarily strong link with the 1987 board of CRH. In her affidavit to the High Court last Wednesday, Mary Harney said that of the 15 members of the board of CRH plc in 1987, the authorised officer had found evidence that eight were "the beneficiaries of deposits" placed with Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd.
"This strongly suggests that a substantial number of the directors knew that an unlicensed bank was operating from its registered office. It also suggests that some of the directors may have been aware that the company was assisting Irish individuals or companies in evading tax."
The eight directors confirmed on Tuesday by The Irish Times are: Des Traynor, CRH chairman between 1987 and 1994; the current chairman of CRH, Tony Barry; Jim Culliton; former Goffs Bloodstock sales director, Michael Dargan; former director of the new Ireland Assurance company, Gerry Hickey; former Irish Life chief executive, Bob Willis; the late Diarmuid Quirke; and Richard F. Wood, former member of the Irish Times trust. Several of those named reacted swiftly. On Sunday, a spokesman for Dr O'Reilly said O'Reilly did not know whether or not his name appeared in the report. However, Dr O'Reilly said he had never had an Ansbacher deposit account, directly or indirectly. In June Dr O'Reilly said he had and continued to have loan facilities from Ansbacher Bank (Cayman). On Tuesday Dr O'Reilly's spokesman said he had issued libel proceedings against The Irish Times after it said he was named in the report as a depositor.
Peter Sutherland told RTE he had dealings with Guinness & Mahon Bank - the original owners of Ansbacher (Cayman) - in the 1970s. He said he did not control or own accounts in College Trustees, an offshore trust company associated with Ansbacher which managed money for Irish clients. Mary Banotti said cheques payable to her which had been "lodged in Guinness & Mahon Bank" could only have been lodged by the professional firm which managed her business affairs in her Dublin office.
Others named who denied holding Ansbacher accounts included Mr Dineen, Mr McCarthy, Mr Ferguson, and Mr O'Reilly-Hyland. The family of the late Hugh Coveney also denied it, but said Mr Coveney had received loans from Ansbacher (Cayman) in the past, and had had links with Traynor through dealings with Guinness & Mahon.
The coincidental appearance at the DIRT tax inquiry this week of two of those named added to the sense of drama. Jim Culliton, who was giving evidence on Monday as a former chairman of AIB, was pursued by a horde of reporters and photographers as he left. "I have nothing to say, thank you," he said finally. Mr Culliton became the first casualty of the affair when on Wednesday, citing personal rea sons, he resigned from the boards of the insurance company the Hibernian Group, the telecoms company Nortel and the Jurys Doyle Hotel Group.
In the Dail, the Government maintained that publication of the report would damage the process of investigation. But the Opposition was riding the tide of public outrage in demanding immediate publication of the names.
Within Fine Gael there was a strong partisan reason for seeking publication. Several were senior figures, past and present, from the party. The party suggested these names had been leaked for political gain by people associated with the Government parties and, Fine Gael reasoned, the release of the remainder of the names might spread the political embarrassment.
Early last year Fine Gael took a different position. Then the party wanted the Moriarty tribunal to report on the procedures and motivations behind the Ansbacher accounts but without publishing names. But that was before the names of some of the party's great and good had been bandied about.