The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, has said that she directed an authorised officer to finish his examination of some of the Ansbacher-linked companies so that the information he had gathered could be passed on to the appropriate bodies.

The Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, questioned the decision last night after Ms Harney told the Dáil that the officer, Mr Gerry Ryan, did not agree with her direction last year and wished to continue his work.

The examinations concerned Hamilton Ross and a number of other entities linked with Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd, the secretive company that was found by the High Court to have facilitated widespread tax evasion for a group of wealthy depositors.

Mr Rabbitte said: "Given that the Tánaiste has claimed political ownership of the Ansbacher investigations for so long, it is puzzling that she cannot give plausible reasons for the shutting down of investigative work that might have led to the appointment of a High Court inspector."

Ms Harney said she had acted "correctly and appropriately" at all times in her dealings with the company law investigations under way in her department when she was Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment.

In a statement late last night, Ms Harney said the Minister had no power to appoint a High Court inspector because that power now rested with the director of corporate enforcement, Mr Paul Appleby.

"Pat Rabbitte is mischievously suggesting that I shut down an investigation that could have led to the appointment of a High Court inspector. He is ill-informed and, in fact, the opposite is the case," Ms Harney said.

The Tanaiste's spokesman said she directed the completion of Mr Ryan's work so that all relevant information could be passed on to the appropriate investigative bodies, including the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement.

"The Tánaiste had previously directed that information of relevance to the tribunals be immediately passed on to these bodies."

He said the work of the authorised officer was always, by definition, a fact-finding process and of a preliminary nature.