Mr. Ned Costigan:

We have been briefing Deputies all over the country in recent years. They must realise that Revenue takes the path of least resistance. The only interest it has is to collect tax. It could not give a hoot about workers’ rights or other such issues. When Revenue sees a bunch of workers, it sticks them on relevant contracts tax and plans to hit them later for a few bob before they skip across the Border or get out of the State. That is the only interest Revenue has. The committee is examining how workers and employers are represented. Revenue does not care about any of those things. It only cares about collecting tax. Parliament had set a reasonable parameter, in so far as relevant contracts tax was concerned, but Revenue dismissed it. We asked Revenue about it and we were told that nobody could remember who did what. We also put the same question to Deputies and they cannot remember either. In our opinion, NERA has no role whatsoever in construction. Construction is an industry. NERA is fine if one is working for an hotel or other such body where one has long-term employment.

For the majority of construction workers, however, the average duration of a job is six months.

As I said earlier, I have worked with more than 50 employers in my lifetime. Some 12 months ago I was employed on a school project but it was 11 weeks after I signed off the live register before I got paid. I had no pay for a full 11 weeks. Six weeks into the project, I made a complaint to Contractors Administration Service, CAS which was appointed by the former Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, to monitor school building projects. CAS sorted out the problem within five weeks and I received my full, backdated pay for the 11 weeks work I had done. Had I gone to NERA, I would be sitting here today saying that I am still waiting for the issue to be sorted out by that authority. It would never have happened.

NERA has no role in construction because as an industry it is too fluid and the majority of employment in the sector is too short-term. NERA does not even have a view on Relevant Contracts Tax, RCT, for example. If representatives of NERA enter a site and find a worker there who is in the black economy, in other words, a worker who is working and signing on, it will not even inform the Department of Social Welfare. It will do nothing about it because it has no role in that regard. NERA has no role in the construction industry although it can be of assistance to workers in other sectors.

The CAS model in the context of the school buildings programme in the Department of Education and Skills could be hardened up. CAS acts like a referee on the field of play. It is not interested in the concerns of employers or workers. It is only interested in ensuring that the game is played according to the rules. That is the only kind of entity that could work.