The first of the financial institutions to appear before the Public Accounts Committee DIRT hearings is scheduled to be called by the end of the week.
The former chief executive officer of the Irish Permanent Building Society, Dr Edmund Farrell, is due to give evidence on Friday, while the CEO of the merged Irish Life and Permanent company, Mr David Went, and the chairman, Mr Roy Douglas, are also expected to be called before the committee on Friday.
On Thursday the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr John Purcell, will appear before the PAC, which has allowed a full day for his evidence.
The hearings enter their second week when they resume today. In the next two days the committee will hear from senior officials from the Revenue Commissioners. Those scheduled to appear include the chief inspector of taxes, Mr Christopher Clayton, who started giving evidence last week, and the former chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, Mr Phil Curran.
Last week the DIRT hearings heard that special low-tax savings accounts (SSAs) held by thousands of depositors since 1993 are being abused on a wide scale to evade tax.
Senior tax inspector Mr Tony Mac Cartaigh said the Revenue did not have the powers to police SSAs properly. While investors are allowed to hold one SSA with up to a maximum of £50,000, he suggested that a large number of individuals had more than one such account spread over different financial institution.
He also contended that in the past branch managers had been rewarded through bonus schemes to build up non-resident deposits, giving them an incentive to encourage the opening of bogus accounts.
A spokesman for the committee said yesterday the proceedings are on schedule to date. "The amount of time spent with each witness is not carved in stone but we are happy that so far we are on schedule."
A live webcast of the PAC hearings is available via The Irish Times site at http://www.irishtimes.com