The Government will continue to resist the early publication of the names of the 120 Ansbacher account-holders, despite attempts by the Opposition parties to press the issue when the Dail resumes on Wednesday.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, last night confirmed that his party will this week move a private member's motion in the Dail calling for the depositors to be publicly named.
The Irish Times has learnt that the former chief executive of CRH, Mr Jim Culliton, and the chairman of Independent News & Media, Dr Tony O'Reilly, are on a list of 120 people associated with Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd or companies linked to it.
The list, prepared by a State-appointed authorised officer, is believed to contain the names of 120 prominent business people, but the nature of their associations with the various schemes devised by the late Mr Des Traynor is understood to vary.
Mr Culliton has not commented since the publication of a High Court affidavit last Wednesday which said eight of CRH's 15 directors in 1987 were involved with Ansbacher. The Irish Times has made several attempts to contact him, including a visit and telephone calls to his home.
Asked about Dr O'Reilly's inclusion on the list, a spokesman for him said he could not comment because Dr O'Reilly does not know whether or not his name appears in the confidential report by the authorised officer, Mr Gerard Ryan.
The Government continues to insist that Section 21 of the Companies Amendment Act, 1990, prohibits publication of any aspect of the report on the activities of Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd.
Mr Bruton said Fine Gael was "drafting a motion on the issue of publication - if necessary after an appropriate amendment to the 1990 Companies Act - of a comprehensive statement of the information so far obtained in the investigation of the Ansbacher accounts."
A Fine Gael spokesman said the objective of the motion would be to get the publication of the names of account-holders. The motion, which is expected to win support from the Labour Party and the Greens, is due to be published this morning.
A Government spokesman last night described the move as "preposterous and ill-judged". He accused Fine Gael of playing "a cynical political game" and `simply trying to grab headlines."
A Labour Party spokesman said they would like to see the motion before giving final agreement, but any measure which brought about publication of the Ansbacher names would have the full support of the Labour Party.
The Green Party TD, Mr John Gormley, said: "This is not a case of `innocent until proven guilty'. Any person named on the list has every opportunity to clarify their position and offer whatever reasonable explanation they may have for being on such a list."
However, the Government spokesman said the three High Court inspectors had to be allowed to undertake their investigations into the accounts.
"The Government wants people prosecuted and to get any revenue lost repaid with interest and penalties. Early publication would damage the process that has already brought us to this stage."
Fine Gael says its legal advice indicates that it would be possible to amend the Companies Act of 1990 to permit the publication of the Ansbacher names retrospectively.
However, a senior legal source last night questioned the constitutionality of such action. He said: "It would be no more appropriate to publish the authorised officer's report than it would be to publish a preliminary Garda file in a criminal investigation."
In advance of a vote on the Fine Gael motion on Thursday, pressure is likely to increase on the four key Independent TDs who have deals to support the minority Fianna Fail-PD Coalition. The Opposition parties would need to attract the support of three of the four Independents to get majority support for the Dail motion on the Ansbacher names.
Last night one of the Independents, the Kerry South TD, Mr Jackie Healy-Rae, said: "Naturally if the list appeared in the papers I would like to read the names like everybody else, but I will have to get an update on the situation when I meet with the Government Chief Whip on Tuesday."