Fees for courses on corporate white-collar crime, money-laundering, and Islamic finance were part of a €475,056 bill to the State for Central Bank employees who took courses last year.

RTE has told the High Court that Denis O’Brien is hanging a 'Sword of Damocles' over the entire media; Days after their loss, while they were still reeling from grief, Gaye and Gerry Edwards received their son’s remains in an envelope and John Giles has not been dropped from the panel covering Ireland's soccer matches, RTE has said. Just some of the latest and most read stories on irishexaminer.com.

Homeowners face €5k bill to remove lead pipes; Martin O’Neill apologised after ‘losing it’ in Celtic’s dressing room after loss; and watch Ryan Tubridy take on zorbing in Westport. These are some of the latest and most read news stories on irishexaminer.com this morning.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has confirmed 16 medical consultants have each made settlements of more than €300,000 arising from Revenue investigations.

The Revenue Commissioners has contacted the Office of Public Works about finding a way to allow its staff at its Cork HQ to use a courtyard in its building, following a previous security incident in which stones were thrown into it.

Welcome to your Thursday morning briefing. Let us ensure you’re up to speed on what’s happening and are prepared for the day ahead.

A packet of cigarettes will cost €10 from today in a move welcomed by anti-tobacco campaigners.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has confirmed that Cork-based firm Abtran was last year paid €3.58m inclusive of Vat for providing telephone call handling for the local property tax and household charge.

The first female sheriff in Ireland tells Dan Buckley she opposes positive discrimination

Two county councils have had to make substantial settlements with the tax authorities because they failed to properly account for staff allowances.

Cork solicitor Sinead McNamara has become the first female county sheriff in Ireland.

New figures from the Revenue Commissioners show that alcohol consumption in Ireland fell again in 2012.

An 18-year-old case will decide if drivers were denied a chance to buy cheap secondhand cars, writes investigative correspondent Conor Ryan

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said today that he accepts a lot of pensioners have been left confused as a result of the manner in which Revenue dealt with the demand for back tax from .

The Revenue Commissioners will not pursue the majority of pensioners for back tax, according to Junior Minister Jan O'Sullivan.

THE state has rejected claims by Dunnes Stores that a €36.4 million tax assessment imposed on the supermarket chain arising out of the levy for plastic shopping bags is invalid.

GARUDA, the refrigeration company owned by former Fine Gael minister Michael Lowry, saw pre-tax profits fall by a third to €354,046 last year.

The Automobile Association (AA) has today criticised plans to impose a 21% VAT rate to State-owned tolls at the West-Link Toll Bridge on the M50 and the Dublin Port Tunnel with effect from July 1.

A THREE-BED home with views across Blackpool to the new Revenue Commissioners’ offices in Cork city carries a €190,000 asking price with agents Cohalan Downing.

THE refrigeration company owned by former Fine Gael minister Michael Lowry, Garuda, saw pre-tax profits increase 13% to €515,871 last year.

THE future of Cork City FC hangs in the balance today as the club’s off-pitch woes come up for decision in the Four Courts.

TAX evaders were still non-compliant years after they were first detected because of the Revenue Commissioners’ failure to carry out a re-audit programme, a Dáil committee heard yesterday.

LARGE-SCALE savers with undeclared money stashed away in deposit accounts handed over an additional €20 million in unpaid taxes in the dying hours of the Revenue Commissioners’ voluntary disclosure scheme.

A TOTAL of €54.6 million was raised last year via the Revenue Commissioners’ latest round of special investigations into tax evasion.

THE refrigeration company owned by former Fine Gael minister Michael Lowry, Garuda, saw pre-tax profits fall slightly to €454,815 last year.

FOR many years tax dodging was a national sport and though it would be naive to imagine that the practice is extinct it is considerably less prevalent than it was.

A Cork priest was convicted and fined over €6,000 on 10 tax charges at Cork District Court today in a case where he had to pay the Revenue Commissioners over €200,000.

THESE next two days may turn out to be the most challenging of Bertie Ahern’s career with a clear and present danger to his reputation.

IRELAND needs a debate on pornography to modernise inadequate legislation dealing with the sex industry, according to the film censor.

THE booming international trade in cocaine may seem a bit baffling at first.

REVENUE paid out a total of €418 million in refunds to 617,000 PAYE taxpayers last year.

The retention of the tax exemption for artists would appear to be a foregone conclusion following the forceful argument put forward yesterday in its defence by Arts Minister John O’Donoghue.

AT the end of August the Revenue Commissioners’ take from various tax investigations has shot through the €2 billion barrier.

The money recovered from tax-evading insurance investors should be ring-fenced to pay for the overcharging of nursing home patients, it was claimed today.

ONLY two tax dodgers have been sent to jail in the past ten years after being convicted of serious tax evasion.

THE Government should not extend the life of Special Savings Incentive Accounts (SSIAs) beyond 2007 because it is too expensive, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) warned yesterday.

CHARLIE McCREEVY yesterday warned his successor against opening the public purse strings too much after he departs for Brussels.

The Government is treating social welfare fraud far more seriously than tax fraud, creating a great imbalance in the system, it was claimed today.

DELAYS in filing tax returns on the Revenue Commissioners’ online service has cost business a minimum of €3 million, according to the Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

THE Revenue Commissioners are to widen their investigation of bogus non-resident accounts by looking into all accounts held by Irish nationals in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man.

THE latest name and shame list of tax defaulters includes the biggest tranche of bogus non-resident account holders to date, but the Revenue Commissioners said there were more to follow.

CUSTOMS officials at Dublin Port discovered more than four million smuggled cigarettes yesterday in the eight major seizure this year.

THE TAXMAN’s crackdown on 30,000 bogus non-resident bank account holders has sent shock waves throughout the country.