Mr. Dominic Doherty:

I think we all acknowledge that neither we nor the Government have all the answers but what we all agree is that we have a major problem, namely, the black economy. What is required here is a partnership approach. Senator Quinn alluded to red tape and he is probably right. The last thing we want to do is to over-correct this and go to a system that has too much red tape attached. A partnership approach is one to be considered. We have a lot of intellectual property, or IP, in our industry and are willing to share it with whatever kind of group might be put in place. This is something we have been talking about for many years but no correction has been put in place to pay the dividends where the Government is losing out.

Back in the 1980s, I was negotiating with an industry that was coming out of a very dark place. Most of the people I was negotiating with - plasterers, blocklayers, etc. - would have been operating in the black economy. One would agree a price with them and, on parting, they would say, "That's into my hand now, isn't it?" They had a domestic economy where they were getting a certain amount of money into their household. They did not care how they got it but they were receiving it. Then we moved into a compliant industry and had to compete with the non-compliant in the funds and wages which people were receiving, which pushed up our prices hugely. We had to gross up their net income. That is what we are facing in a couple of years' time when, as we hope, the industry will start to recover. It will drive the cost of our industry through the roof unless we start now to deal with the black economy.

As an industry, we have been lobbying for a single point of contact within Government. I am sure Mr. Parlon can talk about that in more detail. The fact we are here today and that the committee recognises we are so multi-faceted as an industry is a good thing but we still have not got that single point of contact. It is something we lack and the Government and our industry could both take advantage from it. It would be an advantage to all the various areas. We have been in different committee rooms talking about this in the past.