The compliant taxpayers, those "little people" of US tax dodger and socialite Leona Helmsley's memorable phrase, who pay their taxes and obey the laws of the land, can be forgiven if, over these extraordinary days, they veer between fury and despair. Even the most cynical or sanguine must be angered by the revelation that more than half of the 1987 board of directors of CRH, one of Ireland's most venerable and successful companies, held money in the notorious Ansbacher accounts. This is only the latest in a wave of revelations that have shaken the credibility of the taxation and banking systems.
The disclosures in the High Court this week make it clear that the Ansbacher deposits themselves were no more than the tip of the iceberg; the affidavits read in court point towards a much larger and more elaborate conspiracy to evade tax than was previously imagined. They strongly suggest, in the words of a senior official appointed by the Tanaiste, that "a substantial number of the [CRH] directors knew that an unlicensed bank was operating from its registered office" - and that it was operated by the company's chairman, Mr Des Traynor, whose links to Mr Charles Haughey are well documented. Yesterday's bland, wholly inadequate statement from CRH is an affront to the public. It seeks to skirt responsibility for past actions and offers no hint of contrition or remorse. Its dismissive approach is strikingly similar to that adopted by some of the financial institutions under scrutiny by the Committee of Public Accounts.
The available evidence would now suggest that the activities of Ansbacher (Cayman) in Ireland - thought by the McCracken inquiry to involve deposits of £38 million - actually total substantially more than this. As well as deposits in the Irish banking system, overseas trusts and companies were also involved. The suspicion must be that a large number of Mr Traynor's cronies were involved and that the "golden circle" was more extensive than first presumed. Doubtless, when the names become public knowledge, it will be found that some of those who liked to style themselves as protectors of the national interest and who have urged "responsibility" and "restraint" elsewhere were actively engaged in defrauding the hard-pressed Exchequer in the bleak days of 1987 and beyond.
This Government, or at least the Fianna Fail element of it, would like to consign all this murky business to history. But its own record in relation to Ansbacher is not unblemished. Its failure on two occasions to support a Labour motion seeking to have the Ansbacher deposits included in the terms of reference for the Moriarty tribunal sits shamefully on the public record. Fine Gael was also less than wholehearted in its support for this motion. Against this background, the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, is entitled to take credit for her vigorous and single-minded determination to get to the bottom of this saga.
In time, the full details will become public. The public interest - including the interest of the business community - would best be served by having them emerge sooner rather than later. Hard fact is preferable to rumour. There is also the immense task of rebuilding public confidence in the tax system - and dealing with the pent-up anger of taxpayers and those on fixed incomes. It will be difficult to prevent the dialogue on national partnership, or negotiations on looming industrial disputes, from being prejudiced by retributive sentiments. It is essential to ensure that those who have perpetrated this elaborate tax fraud face the full rigour of the law and are deprived of their ill-gotten gains. But the man in the street will point to the kid-glove treatment accorded to Charles Haughey in his tax liabilities. There is no reason to be optimistic.