Members of the Dail Committee of Public Accounts met in Sunday session yesterday in an effort to complete the report on DIRT tax evasion.
However, the chairman of the committee, Fine Gael TD Mr Jim Mitchell, told The Irish Times last night it was still not clear if the report would be published before Christmas. The report follows seven weeks of hearings, during which the committee examined 142 witnesses from the major financial institutions, the Revenue Commissioners, the Central Bank, the Department of Finance and politicians, and inspected 150,000 documents.
A key issue for the committee is to decide whether AIB secured an amnesty from the Revenue Commissioners in 1991, however informal, in respect of DIRT liabilities arising from bogus non-resident accounts.