The Government expected the tax authorities to proceed against anyone suspected of breaking the tax laws, without fear or favour, the Taoiseach has stated.

He told the Dundalk Chamber of Commerce yesterday that the work of recent tribunals had confirmed the persistence of a culture of tax evasion, a hidden Ireland where people, very rarely poor, systematically avoided their social obligations. "People who are caught avoiding tax do serious damage to their reputation and social standing, and tragically undo the effect of a lot of good work they may have done in many other respects," Mr Ahern said.

He added that nobody in this society was too rich, too powerful or too important to escape detection and investigation. Mr Ahern hoped that members of the Chambers of Commerce throughout Ireland would play a leadership role in encouraging everybody to pay their legally due taxes, and make stronger that cohesion and solidarity in the community which was the foundation of prosperity.