Back in the day one of the Irish Building Societies stated that they could open non resident accounts for people using U.K. addresses (they had to complete a non resident declaration form) and provided that the interest was paid (it had to be posted or transferred to a separate account) to an Irish resident, it could be paid DIRT free.
So. Is the revenue only interested in these Sterling accounts from a DIRT point of view? A current account does not pay DIRT, is that treated differently to a deposit account that does not pay DIRT?
I'm pretty sure that's the other way around? If the beneficiary of the interest is non-resident, DIRT might not apply - working from memory here.
DIRT is just one reason Revenue are interested in foreign bank accounts. Another is to ensure tax has been paid in the funds lodged into such accounts in the first place. For example where an Irish person might own an investment property in Spain, and have the rent paid to a Spanish bank account.