FORMER Euro commissioner Ray MacSharry was in fighting form at the PAC hearings on Wednesday as he dismissed counsel's suggestions that the Revenue could be unduly amenable to ministerial influence.
On becoming tanaiste and minister for finance in 1982, he said he was introduced to various heads of department, including the then chairman of the Revenue Commissioners who, as he was leaving, slipped him a note to the effect that records showed Mac owed £100 in tax from 1972. The new minister insisted his accounts were in order, but promised to contact his accountant.
"Which I did. But the following month when I got my cheque from the Department of Finance, for payment as tanaiste and minister for finance, the £100 was taken off it. . .I never owed it, so the department owes me £100 or more, or the Revenue Commissioners. They may owe me a lot more, but they owe me that much anyway."