Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

What about one overall system? I would ask the Department to reconsider this issue. Technically, a senior counsel who is prosecuting on behalf of the State every day of the week and earning all his money from State fees is a sole trader but he is very much in the public eye and part of the State mechanism. It is the same with a GP. Most of the income of GP practices comes from the State, particularly with the roll-out of the extra medical cards. They are not included and I presume this means that the staff they employ in their health centres through State fees are not included. The last example I gave was consultants. The potential for conflict there is as real as it is in many of the other areas the Department has captured. I know I am spreading it but I am talking about individuals, not companies that tender for work. I said the section 39 people tender for work and the Department is trying to capture them. If the Department is trying to capture section 39 organisations that are substantially funded through State funding and they are contractors rather than employees, I cannot understand why other people who are working on a contractual basis for the State like the three examples I have just given would not be captured. I know everyone will say that they have their own way of doing things. I ask the Department to rethink it.