A co-authored autobiography of former Boyzone lead singer Ronan Keating is one of over 70 works of non-fiction which, because of their cultural merit, were granted tax-free status by the Revenue Commissioners between 1998 and 2001.
The names of authors of non-fiction, such as Labour spindoctor Fergus Finlay and president of the Human Rights Commission Maurice Manning, will be included in a comprehensive list of people who qualified for the scheme, which will be published by the Revenue Commissioners later this week.
The list will include musicians, singers, artists and novelists, whose work first qualified for the scheme between 1998 and 2001.
The names of people who qualified before that date will not be published.
The publication follows a decision by Freedom of Information commissioner Emily O'Reilly to overturn a previous refusal to release the information on those who qualified for the tax scheme between 1998 and 2001.
The Revenue Commissioners have published a list of people who applied for and received the tax exemption since January 2002, after regulations were changed requiring applicants to forgo their anonymity if they received the tax break.
The Revenue had originally refused a request for a more comprehensive list dating back to 1998 when the Freedom of Information Act came into effect.
However, it did publish previously a list of people who wrote works of non-fiction during that time and who were granted tax- free status under the scheme. It was introduced in 1969 by the then minister for finance Charles Haughey to help struggling artists.
Included on the list is Ronan Keating's autobiography, Life is a Rollercoaster. It lists the co-author of the book, journalist Eddie Rowley, as having received tax-free status for earnings from the book. The list does not state whether Ronan Keating also received tax-free status, although it is likely that he did.
The scheme is principally designed for works of fiction such as novels and plays, or works of art. However, income from non-fiction books can also qualify for tax-free status if they are an original work and of cultural merit; if their contemplation enhances the quality of individual or social life by virtue of their intellectual, spiritual or aesthetic form and content.
Labour's outgoing chef de cabinet and former adviser to Labour leader Dick Spring, Fergus Finlay, received tax-free status for his memoirs, Snakes and Ladders.
Mr Finlay said that two of his previous books from the early 1990s, a novel and an account of Mary Robinson's successful 1990 presidential election campaign, were also granted tax-free status under the scheme.
Meanwhile, former government press secretary and lobbyist Frank Dunlop, has said he does not believe he applied for the exemption scheme for his memoirs, Yes Taoiseach, which were published last year.
Mr Dunlop, who co-hosted a political discussion show with Mr Finlay in the late 1990s on RTÉ, said he would be asking his accountant about the scheme, in light of the fact that Mr Finlay's memoirs qualified for tax-free status.