Check out this clip of Bertie Ahern talking about tax cheats in 1993

He wasn’t a fan.

tongoo / YouTube

WITH THE PUBLIC Accounts Committee currently seeking legal advice about investigating claims by a senior civil servant against former politicians, tax dodging is back on the agenda.

The majority of the latest tax avoidance claims relate to politicians who served in the Dáil prior to 2000 – although a small number continued in office after this date.

In 1993, the issue of tax evasion was also front and centre as Ireland introduced its second tax amnesty in five years.

The then Finance Minister – one Bertie Ahern - had no time for tax cheats, saying the Government had to take a “merciless view” on the matter.

“It would actually give me the greatest of pleasure watching non-compliant taxpayers going to jail,” he said.

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