Public representatives in Leinster House worried that widening the terms of reference of the Moriarty Tribunal might provoke a flight of capital from our financial sector, had their minds put at rest by Pat Rabbitte of Democratic Left during the Dail debate last week on the Ansbacher deposits.

The DL finance spokesman told the House of recent events in Germany, where a Dresden Bank AG management board member, Mr HanGuenther Adenauer, had said he would resign after prosecutors raided his home in a widening investigation into whether Germany's largest banks helped clients evade taxes by concealing assets abroad.

He informed his fellow TDs that there had been no flight of international capital from Germany as a result of the raid, adding: "No tip-toeing around the tulips in Germany". The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, looked less than astonished by the news.