Ray Butler (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Some officials from the Department of Social Protection appeared before the committee during the year when we also invited a group of self-employed persons in the Self Employed Alliance, SEA, to appear before us. They were from the Meath and Dundalk area. KPMG produced a report on social protection. The class S stamp rate is 4% to 5%, but KPMG worked out that 17% would be the stamp rate for self-employed persons. The average person pays at a rate of 14.5%. We should look at what systems are used in other countries for self-employed persons. I thank the Minister and community welfare officers for looking after self-employed persons in certain cases. It is a credit to them.