Ms Bríd O'Brien:

We previously looked at the issue of self-employed people being able to access social insurance-based payments, particularly with respect to jobseeker's benefit.

What is quite striking is that in a country like France, the contribution that a self-employed person made into the pot was considerably higher than it would have been here. In other countries, that would have been different. We were quite struck by the contribution that self-employed people in France made. Therefore, if things did not work out for them, they had access to greater social protections than people would have here. One of the recommendations we would have made at that stage is that somebody who is self-employed should be facilitated in making a contribution on behalf of themselves, effectively as an employee and employer.