Mr. Kevin McArdle:

As a self-employed person I pay income tax, PAYE, PRSI, USC, RCT and VAT. I changed my shop ten years ago and in the past ten years I have paid €110,000 in rates to my local authority with no reduction in charges since the recession commenced. People who sought a reduction in rates from the local authority were basically told, and I have it on record, to pay up or close up. We have contributed to the system but, without doubt, we have been treated like second-class citizens. We said the same on the last occasion that we were here and we stand by that claim. We want all of our payments taken into consideration and we are not just looking for a hand-out from the Government. I shall refer to a point made by Deputy O'Dea. When someone who is classed as self-employed goes to a social welfare officer he or she is classed as an unemployed self-employed person and, as Mr. Dolan said earlier, is met with blank stares because the staff in the social welfare office do not know how to handle such cases. The first thing that we seek is equality.