Although in October only £10 million had been collected, Mr Quigley said at the time that he was confident that there would be a last minute rush, pointing out that high net worth individuals who had been evading taxes for many years were unlikely to rush into anything without consulting advisers and considering all the implications.

Although previous estimates released by the Revenue Commissioners had estimated that around £700 million was owed in unpaid taxes, a Revenue spokesman told Ireland.com on Monday that this figure was 'inaccurate and exaggerated'. However, the government believes that a lot is still owing under the terms of the country's Deposit Income Return Tax (DIRT), and estimates of the numbers of bank accounts with money still outstanding range as high as 50,000.

Mr Quigley said earlier this week that the government was 'very pleased with the project', but warned that there would be no mercy for those bogus non-resident account holders who had chosen not to take advantage of the voluntary disclosure scheme.

'Nobody involved should be in any doubt about the long programme of investigations now facing Revenue, given the scale of the problem,' he explained. 'The investigations will clearly extend over a number of years ahead. We are determined to see this project through as efficiently and as effectively as possible.'