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

I disagree with the Deputy in one respect. There is a lot of very high-quality, well-designed and well-built construction taking place in Dublin and it is much better than it was during the Celtic tiger. The construction methods the Deputy deplores are the methods in use in every major city in the world, whether the temperatures are above or below freezing point. One does not mix concrete when the temperature drops below freezing point or one will end up with a load of cracks, as anybody who ever put down a concrete path will know.

There is not much difference between the Deputy's general thesis, except for his style of expression, and the approach of the Revenue Commissioners. An alleged loss of employer PRSI to the Exchequer because of an employers' behaviour in the construction sector is acknowledged by Revenue as a high risk from a tax compliance point of view. I am informed that Revenue is monitoring the sector for abuses of tax, and the duty system forms part of its ongoing compliance programme, to which it commits significant resources. In view of the welcome growth in activity in the sector, Revenue has an extensive dedicated focus on construction to target the various tax compliance risks associated with the sector. As I pointed out, one of its initiatives collected tax due of €51 million and the Revenue Commissioners will continue their work in this area. It is not difficult for people to be compliant in a business where they go to work every morning and clock into the same building, but the building industry is transitory and people move from site to site, from contract to contract and from city to city. Compliance is more difficult but Revenue is dedicated to compliance and it has made a lot of progress. I do not believe it is as bad as the Deputy makes out but I am also sure there is some tax evasion. As construction activity continues and it gets more difficult to get key workers, the potential for exploiting construction workers will become more limited. When everybody was looking for a job, it was easy to do deals with people and such deals might not have been fully tax compliant. The Revenue Commissioners are doing their job and will act on any information provided to them.