Revenue official opposed Dunnes interest waiver

A FORMER senior Revenue official yesterday told the Moriarty Tribunal that he disagreed with a decision of the tax authorities to wipe out interest payments worth £62,450 for Dunnes Stores in 1987.

Dr Don Thornhill, who was assistant secretary of the Revenue’s capital taxes branch in the late 1980s, accepted yesterday that his opposition to the waiving of taxes was not widely shared among tax officials.

His comments follow the revelation earlier this week that the former Revenue chairman, Seamus Paircéir, agreed to waive the interest on overdue tax owed by Dunnes Stores. The tribunal also established that Mr Paircéir met former Dunnes boss, Ben Dunne, at the request of then Taoiseach, Charles Haughey in 1987 to discuss the group’s taxes.