When the Revenue Commissioners stumbled on a significant "find" in Galway several years ago, it was not a raft of offshore accounts. In fact, it resembled no more than rubble on a building site, until archaeologists confirmed that it was the medieval hall once owned by the Red Earl, Richard de Burgo.
The discovery of Galway's oldest building occurred during extension work to the Revenue's own Customs House branch, and so the construction project was suspended.
Instead, they let loose the archaeologists and called in the Office of Public Works (OPW). A hoarding was erected around the area, the contents of which became Galway's best kept secret. Until yesterday, that is, when the refurbished new Customs House was unveiled to the public by the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Mr Martin Cullen.
The glass-fronted structure with walkway around its exposed 13th-century foundations was designed by Mr Michael Cadden, OPW architect. The finished work, which cost £3 million, draws on seven centuries of history. Interpretative panels and display cabinets reveal the nature and extent of the rich archaeological finds.
In several centuries, such cabinets will probably house a few tattered tax certificates in that old currency, pounds and pence.
Illustrated on a 1651 map of the city, the hall was listed as "the old castle of the most illustrious Lord, Richard de Burgo, the Red Earl", and was one of several built by the Normans after they arrived into the sea-trading port and banished the O'Flahertys.
Sometime in the 15th century it became an iron workshop, and the excavation of several pits, stakeholes and stone features indicates that industrial activity continued until the early 17th century.
Speaking at yesterday's opening, the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Mr Martin Cullen, said it was a significant archaeological find, and one that presented his office with a considerable challenge.
Mr Dermot Quigley, chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, said that it would provide an excellent working environment for the 55 Revenue staff based there.
A regional Stamp Duty office has also been opened on the premises - up till now, such facilities were only available in Dublin and Cork.