Mr Mc Creevy said that of the 17 cases of serious tax evasion brought in Ireland since 1996, 16 had resulted in prosecution, and added that more than 1,000 convictions are secured annually for failure to complete and file tax returns. He also explained that 'a very high level of evidence and proof is required to sustain a criminal prosecution', which may account, at least partly, for the fact that relatively few cases have been successfully prosecuted.

The Finance Minister told the Dail that the number of prosecutions undertaken in Ireland for serious tax evasion is proportionately on a par with those brought in Britain by the Inland Revenue, but added that despite this, and the fact that taxpayers in general are becoming more compliant, the Irish Revenue Department still intended to launch a specialised prosecution division. 'I am certain that the number of prosecutions will increase in coming years,' he said.

However, Jim Mitchell, finance spokesman for Fine Gael, was less than impressed with Mr McCreevy's pledges for the future. He told assembled politicians that in his opinion, the Minister's comments that securing a conviction is a 'long, drawn out, tedious process' sent the message to tax evaders in Ireland that 'they need not worry too much about prosecution.'

Mr Mitchell then took the government to task over the recent crackdown on bogus non-resident account holders, saying that 16 prosecutions out of an estimated 50,000 Ireland based tax evaders was an unacceptable number. 'We do not want to put people in jail for the sake of it but we want to send out a message to tax evaders that there is no place for tax evasion in society,' he concluded.