A fruit and vegetable distributor last year recorded pre-tax profits of almost €4,000 per week while the company’s boss languished in jail.

Waterford veteran Tony Browne is hopeful of playing his first county hurling of the year in Saturday’s All-Ireland SHC qualifier clash with Westmeath in Cusack Park (5pm).

Former AFL player Conor Meredith has been handed his first Senior Championship start by Laois manager Justin McNulty.

Ireland operates two very different tax systems, one for corporate multinationals and a second for smaller companies and individuals, according to Trinity finance professor, Jim Stewart.

Wexford 1-8 Laois 0-14

A businessman jailed over a multi-million euro import duty scam on garlic has been granted temporary release from prison.

More people were jailed for serious tax offences last year than in the three years between 2008 and 2011.

The reduction in the sentence for Paul Begley was welcomed far and wide.

Businessman Paul Begley will be freed from jail in less than seven months after his record six-year sentence over a €1.6m garlic import duty scam was cut.

A businessman jailed over a €1.6m garlic import duty scam has had his record six-year sentence cut to two years on appeal.

Judges will rule today on what sentence to impose on a businessman who appealed against a six-year jail term for tax evasion on imported garlic.

Fruit and vegetable importer Paul Begley will have to wait a little longer to find out what his new sentence for a tax fraud will be.

A new sentence is due to be imposed on Dublin businessman Paul Begley, whose six-year jail term for a €1.6m tax scam on garlic was overturned on appeal.

A man behind a €1.6m tax scam on imported garlic has had his six-year jail sentence set aside today.

Offaly 1-11 Laois 1-8

The former head of the country’s biggest fruit and vegetable company must wait to learn if his appeal against his six-year sentence for failing to pay import tax on garlic has been successful after the Court of Criminal Appeal reserved judgment.

A Dublin businessman will have to wait to find out if his six-year jail sentence for a €1.6m tax scam on garlic will be reduced on appeal.

An appeal has heard the six-year jail term being served by a Dublin businessman for a €1.6m tax scam on garlic is the longest ever in a Revenue matter.

Discrepancies in the lengths of sentences judges hand down have been decried by many, and lead to a lack of faith in the justice system, writes Michael Clifford

Every now and then an event, an issue, a business collapse or an episode of wrongdoing comes to light that challenges the very notion that this is a society where the rule of law represents justice, that social cohesion and responsibility mean something beyond being hollow ballast for politicians’ hired speech writers.

The Court of Criminal Appeal has been urged to give a priority hearing to the appeal by businessman Paul Begley against the severity of his six-year jail sentence over a €1.6m garlic import scam.

MICK WALLACE was going to tell us today how it was going to be, but the Ceann Comhairle had other ideas.

Today, as tax-cheat Dáil deputy Mick Wallace drives his “banger” jeep to the European soccer championships in Poland, garlic importer and fellow Vat dodger Paul Begley is in jail serving a six-year sentence for a €1.6m tax scam.

IF a government levies a tax that is patently unfair or excessive then people may go to extraordinary lengths to try not to pay it, even running the risk of major fines or, worse, jail if caught and found guilty of wrong-doing.

It seems incongruous that a person convicted of killing a father of four and another person convicted of a €1.6m tax scam should get the same jail sentence.

The head of Ireland’s largest fruit and vegetable producers has been jailed for six years for a €1.6m scam involving the importation of garlic.

The head of Ireland's largest fruit and vegetable producers has been jailed for six years for a €1.6m scam involving the importation of garlic.

GER REIDY of Castleisland Desmonds and Aidan O’Shea from the Glenbeigh-Glencarr club are the two new faces on the Kerry team to play Donegal in the opening round of the Allianz NFL at Austin Park, Tralee tomorrow.

UCC have named the same team that defeated Clare in the quarter-final for Sunday’s McGrath Cup semi-final against Kerry in Killarney.

Wexford 2-12 Laois 0-15

Wexford 2-12 Laois 0-15