The text of Bertie Ahern's statement released yesterday afternoon.
It is accepted practice since the foundation of the State that the tax affairs of any individual are confidential between that individual and the Revenue Commissioners. For every citizen, that is a basic expectation.
Details of my tax affairs, no less than those of anyone else, are confidential between myself and the Revenue Commissioners. Those who have been demanding that this long-standing practice should be set aside are taking us into uncharted territory and challenging the foundations for confidence in our tax system.
Accordingly, it would be inappropriate for me to discuss the details of my tax affairs with anybody other than the Revenue Commissioners.
I was perturbed to see correspondence relating to my tax affairs published recently in a Sunday newspaper. I am fully satisfied that absolutely no details of my dealings with them have been made public by the Revenue Commissioners.
I have, however, already said publicly that I engaged with the Revenue Commissioners on some matters, which emerged in recent months. I made voluntary disclosure to the Revenue and I paid them money on account which I understand is the normal practice. This does not necessarily mean there is a liability arising.
My tax adviser is in discussions with the Revenue Commissioners on these matters. That process will take its course and will come to a conclusion in due time, just as it would for any taxpayer engaged in a similar process. I firmly believe that I am in a position to answer any questions raised by the Revenue Commissioners, who deal similarly with all taxpayers, regardless of their occupation. That is as it should be.
Like all Deputies elected to Dáil Éireann on May 24th last, I am required to furnish to the Standards in Public Office Commission either a Tax Clearance Certificate or an Application Statement issued to me by the Revenue Commissioners. As the commission have noted, these are documents of equal stature.
The Application Statement is issued where there is an aspect of a taxpayer's affairs that are still the subject of discussion between Revenue and the taxpayer.
A person who provides an Application Statement to the Standards in Public Office Commission is complying with requirements under Section 25 of the Act. This position applies until such time as a decision on the issue of a Tax Clearance Certificate is made.
I have made a statutory declaration under Section 21(1)(b) of the Standards in Public Office Act to the effect that I was - and I am - to the best of my knowledge and belief in compliance with my tax obligations.
That is my position. That will, I am confident be evidenced in due course by the issue of a Tax Clearance Certificate.
In the meantime, I continue to comply fully with my obligations as an elected representative and an office-holder insofar as the Standards in Public Office Commission is concerned, and as a taxpayer insofar as the Revenue Commissioners are concerned.
Attempts to misrepresent or otherwise hijack those procedures for political gain, and with total disregard for the implications in the longer term, should be seen for the political opportunism they are.
- Bertie Ahern