Yesterday's report is really only the beginning of a process that may eventually put some manners on the State's financial institutions as well as shaking up the operation of various state agencies, including the Central Bank and the Department of Finance.
By putting deadlines of six and 12 months on the various organisations asked to undertake further work, the Committee of Public Accounts has acted with the public mood for action in mind. Its chairman, Mr Jim Mitchell, stressed that, along with his colleagues, he wanted "decisions so that this thing is not delayed. The public would be upset at any delays".
However, for the committee proposals in relation to the bank levy and improving the role of the external auditors to be implemented, action will have to come from the Government. The Taoiseach and the Tanaiste have welcomed the report's publication.
However, if the Government is serious about implementing the recommendations it will have to take on some of the most powerful groups and individuals in Irish society ranging from the financial institutions to state agencies.
On the evidence of the report's recommendations, the financial institutions are the biggest losers. They may eventually have to return to the State what it is owed in DIRT - and then a little more in the form of the proposed bank levy.
The second biggest casualty of the report must be the public servants who headed up the Department of Finance, the Central Bank and the Revenue Commissioners in the 1980s and early part of this decade.
In a damning assessment of the chief bottle-washers in the Department of Finance, the report concludes that they "did not fully inform Ministers during the relevant period (1986 - 1998) in relation to the problem of bogus non-resident accounts".
Mr Mitchell observed that the report highlighted "very significant failings on the part of the Department of Finance".
The Government will have an opportunity to consider what needs to be done at Finance when it considers the appointment of a new Secretary-General to the Department in the New Year. The individual chosen and the remit given will give an early indication of the seriousness with which the Coalition holds the DIRT report.
The conclusions in the report must make for uncomfortable reading for one public servant in particular - Mr Maurice O'Connell, the current Governor of the Central Bank who also served as Secretary-General of the Department of Finance during the years covered by the DIRT Inquiry.
The report concludes that the Central Bank "knew of the problem" but "took no action". The theory that any action on bogus non-resident accounts would have lead to an economic upheaval due to the flight of capital from the country has been dismissed in the DIRT report due to a lack of quantitative and qualitative research. Mr O'Connell was a strong advocate of the theory of capital flight in justifying the official response to the DIRT situation.
The report sticks to apportioning blame for the DIRT scandal to institutions. The banks and various state agencies are hit hard for their responses to the non-payment of tax. However, the individuals who comprised these institutions fare somewhat better.
There is no naming of names. However, Mr Mitchell said the report did "carry implications for individuals". Whether resignations will ensue is a moot point. However, it could well be that the Government should be asking for prominent resignations.
The report contains less serious implications for the politicians who held the position of Minister for Finance over the period under investigation. The DIRT Inquiry heard from five former finance ministers - Mr John Bruton (1986-87); Mr Ray MacSharry (1987-88); Mr Albert Reynolds (1988-91); Mr Bertie Ahern (1991-94) and Mr Ruairi Quinn (1994-97).
The conclusions fall short of outright criticism of any of these politicians for the manner in which they went about their jobs. However, it does note that it was "remarkable that successive Ministers had so little awareness of the Revenue operating procedures".
The committee rejected - as "groundless" - allegations that a failure of political will lay behind the responses of any of the former finance ministers to the DIRT issue.