Make up your mind where the nasty smell is really coming from

AS that poor old “Dáil pensioner”, Ray Burke, ponders what the New Year holds in store for him - whether he’ll be a free man or in a cell - he can take a modicum of consolation from a presumption that exists for Irish tax evaders.

They rarely go to prison.

We all knew that it’s easier for somebody to end up in jail for social welfare fraud than for evading taxes. But it was confirmed this week during the former government minister’s appearance in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court where he was convicted of two tax offences.