The Director of Public Prosecutions begins consideration of the Flood tribunal's second interim report today and is treating the matter as a priority.
With the clamour over yesterday's findings by Mr Justice Flood and the Comptroller and Auditor General's (C&AG) annual report continuing, both the Labour Party and the biggest trade union in the State, SIPTU, are calling for legal action.
Labour finance spokesman Mr Brendan Howlin said the report by the C&AG showed that a wealthy elite continue to avoid paying tax. Yesterday's report said the Revenue Commissioner needs to improve its detection methods in the face of sophisticated schemes being used to help individuals avoid or evade tax.
Mr Howlin said: "If we are going to end [tax] evasion, we need exemplary prosecutions leading to jail sentences to show both evaders and compliant taxpayers that tax crime will not pay."
His comments follow the publication of a report by the C&AG which said the Revenue Commissioners had "inappropriately" written off unpaid taxes despite some individuals employing a "hide and frustrate" approach to tax liability.
The report found that people who had systematically evaded tax over years had their liabilities written off by the Revenue Commissioner. The report blamed what Mr Howlin today described as "almost farcical levels of inefficiency".
He said the C&AG and the Flood tribunal revelations were "two sides of the same corrupt coin".
The DPP confirmed today that it will be treating Flood report as a matter of priority but could not make any further comment. Mr Justice Flood's interim report identified a number of people who had obstructed his work, including former Fianna Fail minister Mr Ray Burke and the party's former director of the Nice referendum campaign Mr PJ Mara, who resigned today following the Flood allegations.
In the preface to his report, Mr Justice Flood said anyone obstructing the tribunal had committed a criminal offence but said the decsion to prosecute rested with the DPP.
SIPTU national secretary Mr Noel Dowling said today public confidence could only be restored by prosecutions: "People will continue to be cynical about the whole political establishment and the favourable treatment accorded to people of property, until it is clearly demonstrated that all citizens will be held to account in court, regardless of their social status or political connections."