Wealthy holders of offshore accounts are being treated with "kid gloves" by the Revenue Commissioners, the Dáil Committee of Public Accounts (PAC) heard yesterday.

"When elites are caught out, they get a quiet conversation from the Revenue asking them to come clean," committee member and Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins said, commenting on Minister for Finance Brian Cowen's response to a committee report on his department and the Revenue.

"The constituents I represent won't exactly be treated the same way if they are caught out with social welfare fraud. The stick ordinary people get should go for the rich as well," he said.

The committee hearing followed publication this week of details of settlements by four former top executives at AIB totalling €323,313 as a result of their dealings with an offshore investment scheme that breached tax law.

The PAC had recommended that the Revenue continue to meet financial institutions to urge them to co-operate with the investigation into offshore accounts, and to keep the committee informed of the outcome.

The Revenue accepted this recommendation, it emerged at the hearing yesterday, and has already met the chief executives of the 10 financial institutions that had or have offshore affiliates. It had collected €762.5 million by the end of September after about 15,000 people made voluntary disclosures about their offshore accounts.

The Department of Finance also told the committee that the Revenue had stepped up systematic checks on compliance with conditions for wealthy people claiming non-resident tax status, as recommended by the committee.

However, it could not fulfil the committee's recommendation that the Revenue publish information on the number of people availing of this tax status or an estimate of tax lost as a result of people claiming to be tax exiles.

The department argued that data from income tax returns requesting taxpayers' residence status is not being captured electronically, reducing the ability to compile statistics. It said it wasn't "reasonable" to ask Irish non-residents to file details of their foreign income on Irish tax returns.

"This is an unsatisfactory response. It's wishy-washy and is allowing the existing regime to continue," committee member Seán Fleming, Fianna Fáil TD, said. "All they have to do is to tick the non-residents box. I'd suggest we go back to the Department of Finance and ask them to deal it with again."