Former Tanaiste Mary Harney has hit back strongly at allegations she shut down a tax evasion investigation because it linked senior politicians, including her PD mentor Des O’Malley, with Ansbacher accounts.

But the ministers named in the Ansbacher dossier say they were never quizzed about offshore tax evasion claims by either gardai or the Revenue Commissioners.

Ms Harney has also rejected claims she tried to get a whistleblower to complete his inquiry faster by offering him bonus payments.

The former Progressive Democrats leader broke her silence on the Ansbacher dossier after Sinn Fein deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald used Dail privilege to name six of the 10 politicians implicated by Department of Jobs whistleblower Gerard Ryan in his dossier.

Mr O’Malley said that while he had a legitimate Guinness & Mahon account, he never had an Ansbacher account and had been cleared of the dossier allegations by the Moriarty Tribunal.

But Ms Harney rejected the claim that Mr O’Malley’s presence on a list of alleged account holders prompted the inquiry to be wound up.

“At no point was I ever influenced by any of the many names brought to my attention by the Authorised Officer in the course of his seven-year investigation,” she said.

Ms Harney said minutes of meetings will confirm she made it clear, “regardless of who might have been involved”, that Ansbacher had to be investigated correctly and thoroughly.

The former Tanaiste said bonus payments offered to Mr Ryan arose when he expressed disappointment at not being appointed head of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement.

"Throughout the seven years of the investigation I supported the Authorised Officer in his role. When he wrote to me in 2000 resigning as Authorised Officer and conveying how disappointed he was at not being appointed by the Public Appointments Service as Director Designate of the ODCE I approved an offer of a specific bonus. This would have been payable on completion of his investigation," she said.

But she also said she had been concerned about the slow progress of his investigation from 2001. She said she ultimately asked him to complete it in 2004 because she knew she was to move in a reshuffle and wanted the report finalised.

All five of the former ministers named by Ms McDonald who are still alive each denied ever holding Ansbacher accounts, which were used by hundreds of Irish people to avoid tax from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s.

Former Fianna Fail ministers Ray MacSharry, Gerard Collins and Maire Geoghegan-Quinn and ex-Fine Gael minister Richie Ryan each said they never held Ansbacher accounts or accounts at Guinness & Mahon, the bank here which was used to access the money.

The sixth politician, named by Ms McDonald as "S Barrett" is believed to be former Fianna Fail minister Sylvester Barrett, who died in 2002.

After making the disclosures, Ms McDonald said she wanted to force an independent review of how successive Governments and State agencies had handled claims made by Mr Ryan, who was an authorised officer investigating Ansbacher for six years.

But Ms McDonald was later forced to defend herself, amid claims her actions were designed to deflect from controversy over Sinn Fein's treatment of rape victim Mairia Cahill.

Labour TD Joe Costello, a colleague of Ms McDonald's on the Dail Public Accounts Committee, accused her of engaging in a "stunt to distract from the allegations of sexual abuse levelled against members of the republican movement".

He also questioned whether it was suitable for her to remain on the PAC. "It is damaging to the work of the committee for a member to name people mentioned in the dossier against whom nothing has been proved," said Mr Costello.

The committee will today quiz Revenue officials about how they handled allegations contained in Mr Ryan's dossier.

PAC members had agreed at a private meeting on Tuesday night not to publicly name any of those listed in the dossier.

However, Ms McDonald rejected suggestions she should step down from the committee. She said that while she accepted persons were entitled to their good name, senior political figures still in receipt of State payments, through pensions, should be investigated.

Last night Mr O'Malley told the Irish Independent that while he had been spoken to by the Moriarty Tribunal about Mr Ryan's claims, neither the gardai nor Revenue officials had contacted him. He said the tribunal found there was no evidence in the dossier to suggest he held an Ansbacher account. Mr O'Malley added he was "quite positive" that the allegation against former Tanaiste Mary Harney was "untrue".

Richie Ryan told the Irish Independent that he had been fully compliant with tax laws at all times, and never sought to evade his responsibilities. "It is terrible Dail privilege should be abused in this way. It undermines democracy when allegations like this are made public without even notifying the people against who the allegations are made."

Mr MacSharry said he had been unaware of the allegations until yesterday. "It is outrageous that anybody can make such wild claims when there is no foundation in them," he said.

Accounts

Last night, the family of Sylvester Barrett said: "Our late father did not have any bank accounts with either Guinness & Mahon or Ansbacher . Therefore any accounts in the name of S. Barrett had nothing to do with our late father."

Meanwhile, a source close to Mr Collins said the first he learned of the allegation was when he was named in the Dail.

The existence of the claims first came into the public domain last month, when Mr Ryan forwarded his dossier to members of the PAC under protective disclosure legislation.

He claimed there had been a pattern of political obstruction of his investigation and several State agencies had not adequately investigated evidence he had uncovered.

This included a statement from a former bank employee that a "very secret list" of 10 high profile politicians who held Ansbacher accounts had been held in a black briefcase in the bank in the late 1970s.

Irish Independent