Counsel for the former Fianna Fáil minister, Ray Burke, has urged Dublin Circuit Criminal Court not to jail him for making false tax returns.
Burke, who was described as "only a Dáil pensioner now", was remanded on bail yesterday by Judge Desmond Hogan for sentence on January 24th, 2005.
Mr Patrick Hunt SC argued in a plea of mitigation for Burke that the former minister for foreign affairs and justice should not be treated any differently because of who he is.
The court had heard he was fully tax compliant as a result of settlements with the Revenue that followed an investigation by the Criminal Assets Bureau.
Burke pleaded guilty last July to knowingly or wilfully furnishing incorrect information during the Government's tax amnesty of 1993 by failing to declare an income of £91,980.
He also pleaded guilty to knowingly or wilfully furnishing incorrect information to the Inspector of Taxes on or after December 15th, 1993, by failing to declare income of £24,038, bringing the total of undeclared income to £116,038.
Mr Hunt referred to Burke's guilty plea and pointed out that the former minister had fully co-operated with the investigation into his tax affairs.
While Burke had suffered opprobrium and a fall from grace as a result of the high position he had held, Mr Hunt argued that Burke's former position was no reason to make him a "scapegoat".
He submitted that Burke was a man of "good character", with no previous convictions, who should not be treated any differently than anyone else by the courts.
Mr Hunt added that Burke was aged 61 and in poor health.
He was suffering from anxiety and depression "as a result of the entire matrix of events involved with this prosecution".
He gave Judge Hogan a medical report from a consultant psychiatrist, Mr John Cooney, in which details about Burke's condition were set out.
Burke, of Griffith Downs, Drumcondra, in north Dublin, stood at the back of the court with his arms folded for more than 1½ hours as other cases were mentioned before Judge Hogan.
He was not called before the judge during the course of the hearing.
Mr Hunt told the judge that Burke was now fully tax compliant and referred Judge Hogan to DPP v Redmond in which the defendant had been fined £7,500 for failing to make tax returns over 10 years. George Redmond, a former Dublin city and county assistant manager, had not been jailed.
In reply, prosecuting counsel Mr Patrick Gageby SC drew the judge's attention to a more recent unreported decision in which Judge Michael White had sentenced Patrick Mitchell to two years for similar offences.
Mr Hunt noted that Mitchell's sentence had been reduced to six months by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Judge Hogan said he needed time to consider the various elements of the case and adjourned the sentence hearing to January 24th, 2005