Republican News · Thursday 11 July 2002

sbacher exposes corrupt elite

Sinn Féin Dáil group leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin has described the Ansbacher Report as a "damning indictment of the wealthy elite in Irish society" and of successive governments and the Central Bank who failed to tackle massive tax evasion and avoidance organised by financial institutions.

"It finally reveals officially what has been known for a long time - that Ansbacher was a massive scam operated for years for the benefit of some of the wealthiest people in Ireland," said the Cavan/Monaghan TD.

"Its purpose was to ensure that these people made no contribution to Irish society through taxation. This was at a time in the 1980s and early '90s when our people were suffering the effects of cutbacks in health and education and other public services. While peope died on waiting lists, others queued up to be part of this exclusive banking club. Our pubic services, particuarly health, have still not fully recovered from the cuts of that time.

"Those who could most afford to contribute to the public finances at a time of economic downturn were the very people who went to great lengths to swindle the ordinary PAYE taxpayer who bore the burden.

"The real question to be answered now is whether any action will be taken against the financial institutions who facilitated white collar crime in the Ansbacher scandal and other scams. White-collar crime has enjoyed a virtual amnesty in this State up to now. If this report is not a turning point for the accountability of financial insitutions, then it will have been a wasted exercise."