The Taoiseach is expected to be asked today why he did not oppose the introduction of the 1993 tax amnesty, despite arguing against it only four days previously in a Cabinet memorandum.
The memorandum, a formal submission to the Cabinet dated May 21st, 1993, contains a very strong recommendation from Mr Ahern, then minister for finance, against any such scheme. It also shows that the attorney general's office was against it, saying it "would be open to successful challenge on grounds of unconstitutionality".
According to the memorandum, which has been seen by The Irish Times: "The Minister considers that the risks to the Exchequer considerably outweigh the possible windfall gains."
Yet just four days after producing this document on May 25th Mr Ahern formally proposed the item relating to the tax amnesty at Cabinet, and it was approved without debate. Labour ministers, who had strongly opposed the measure in advance of the Cabinet meeting, are understood to have expected Mr Ahern to oppose it at Cabinet but said nothing when he proposed it.
Mr Ahern's May 1993 memorandum confirms the high degree of government knowledge of the extent of tax evasion, referring to "money within the country - in disguised accounts and bogus non-resident accounts with financial institutions", precisely the funds now at the centre of the DIRT inquiry.
Mr Ahern told the Dail on June 2nd, 1993, that in some towns in the State the number of "foreign" accounts outnumbered domestic accounts. Closing our eyes to this was an attempt to delude ourselves, he said.
The 1993 amnesty was championed by the then Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, who argued it would bring "hot money" that was overseas back into Ireland, benefiting the economy and compliant taxpayers.
However, the Memorandum to Government, dated May 21st, 1993, gives detailed and lengthy arguments against the scheme.
Mr Ahern cited the advice from the attorney general's office as one of his reasons for opposing the scheme. The other reasons he gave were "the likely negative implications for aggregate tax revenues over the next few years . . .[and] considerations of equity and the integrity of the tax system".
The memo predicted that an amnesty would have a negative impact on compliance with the tax system. Some taxpayers might react to the perceived inequity by evading tax themselves, while others would evade in anticipation of repeat amnesties every four or five years.
Today Mr Ahern will be among five former ministers for finance questioned at the DIRT inquiry.