The Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, has described as 'minute' the money collected by the Revenue Commissioners from tax cheats.
He was replying to questions from Labour's Spokesperson on Finance, Joan Burton, who asked what changes were planned after €1.52 billion was collected following special investigations.
The minister said that all the money collected from people with, for example, bogus non-resident accounts or illegal offshore assets, amounted to a very small sum of less than 0.5%, when compared with the actual tax paid over the last 20 or 30 years.
Deputy Burton accused the minister of dismissing the issue as minor, and said the minister's attitude was a shame.
Mr McCreevy replied that everyone should pay his or her taxes in full and on time.
