The Irish Examiner reported on Monday that both the Revenue and the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) have been obliged to hang fire over their respective efforts to determine the full extent of the tax evasion which took place through the use of bogus non-resident accounts and collect unpaid taxes, and to bring prosecutions against certain of the individuals and companies implicated in the investigation.

The Examiner revealed that an application for access to the documents was made to the High Court over a year ago, but that following a hearing on the case in November 2002, judgement was reserved. The High Court won't now sit again until October, meaning that the Revenue Commissioners and ODCE investigations must be postponed once again.

Speaking with regard to the long delay, Director of Corporate Enforcement, Paul Appleby explained that:

'We are awaiting the High Court Decision so that we can assess what the next step should be by us. It wasn't expected to take this long.'

Critics of the government have suggested that its pursuit of the Ansbacher tax dodgers has lost momentum, with just 24 million in unpaid taxes collected so far, and only 11 cases settled. However, speaking to the Irish Examinier this week, a spokeswoman for Tanaiste, Mary Harney announced that:

'If there are any delays it's because we are still awaiting the court's decision.'