Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is becoming a manufacturing industry rather than a construction industry. A great deal of what goes into modern buildings is manufactured off site in factory-type environments and is brought on site to be put together. One sees this in what is happening on the commercial side in Dublin. It is not quite like assembling Lego, but there are construction companies that are supplied to a large extent by manufacturing companies. I do not mean manufacturing construction materials. Rather, they are manufacturing whole sections that can be put together. This can be seen all over the city. I am told that this model has moved on to housing as well.

Of course there is an issue with tax avoidance and evasion in many industries. Revenue's activity is not just confined to construction. There are similar problems in the pharma, IT, airline and other industries where subcontractors are employees under another name and there is tax evasion. The way to root it out is by anyone with accurate information providing it to Revenue, which is committed to ensuring that everyone is tax compliant. It is not turning a blind eye.