Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It was not an external report. The report was compiled by a senior officials group across the three Departments - Revenue, my Department and the Department of Finance. The reason it has not been published is because I am only considering it. It is being worked on. As soon as I have worked through the report, it will be published. I am exceptionally clear in this area. I look forward to the day that I have the money to spend that we can recoup from those who are not genuinely self-employed. As soon as I can do that, it will be done.

The difficulty, in response to Deputy Joan Collins, is that there are 360,000 designated as self-employed. Without speaking to each individual, one does not know who is and who is not self-employed.

What we have is anecdotal. I know there are certain industries in which it is much more prevalent but there are industries that we do not even recognise in which it is a significant issue. I am not trying to downplay whether it is €750 million. If it was twice or three times that, I am sure we would all enjoy being able to spend it, but I do not want to set expectations for people and then have us end up with an extra €50 million a year in reality. We will go after whatever the amount is and will enjoy divvying it out to people who deserve it most under income supports and schemes in the Department.