Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 188:

In page 142, between lines 19 and 20, to insert the following:“Report on bogus self-employment

60.The Minister shall, within one month of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the scale of bogus self-employment and measures that can be taken to prevent bogus self-employment.”.

I will speak more extensively on this amendment which relates to a report on the scale of bogus self-employment and measures that can be taken to prevent it. I attended the Joint Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection today and someone was there from the Department, speaking about this issue. What she said indicated that the Government has its head in the sand on the issue of bogus self-employment. The main line the Department had was that there was an issue but it was not as much of an issue as was anecdotally indicated, and that the Department does not keep records of bogus self-employment. It does thousands of inspections a year but does not keep records at the end of the process. It is not a serious approach to this issue.

Approximately 12% of workers in this State are self-employed without employees. It does not mean they are all bogus self-employed but it certainly opens up the possibility that some of them, potentially quite a number, are. The evidence from trade unions and other sources indicates that there are areas of the labour market where there is extensive bogus self-employment, in construction, delivery, courier companies etc.

Some of that is not really the business of the Minister's Department but it relates to his Department and Revenue with regard to the question of the loss of income to the State. There is a substantial saving for employers who use bogus self-employment, in the region of 30%, as a result of not paying PRSI etc. That saving for them is a loss to the State. Different figures have been produced about how much there is. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, has a figure based on the construction industry of €80 million a year or €600 million since this became very widespread in the construction industry. I have heard bigger figures than that but in any case there seems to be a significant issue here. The State is losing out on at least some money, arguably quite a substantial amount, and it also has a negative impact on the quality and decency of employment because people who are working in these conditions end up having worse terms and conditions and fewer rights. That is the idea behind a report on the scale of it.