Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I spoke on this in a related section earlier today. I do not propose to accept the amendment mainly because my Department and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection published a report on this a number of months ago. We have already done it. I know there are differing views on the conclusions that we reached and the data in them but such a report was done. As the Deputy has said, this becomes an issue for my Department if any revenue is forgone, particularly PRSI revenue.

As I said in response to Deputy Pearse Doherty this afternoon, if the Revenue Commissioners informed me that they believed that any legal changes were needed to strengthen their compliance activity, I would certainly do it. As I indicated to the Deputy in debates in the Dáil Chamber, the Revenue Commissioners and Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection take part in compliance activity relating to this. In 2016 alone, they conducted nearly 11,699 interviews on this area which resulted in the reclassification of a number of subcontractors as employees and in 848 individuals registering as PAYE employees. We published a report on the area. I believe a large amount of compliance activity is already taking place. If the Revenue Commissioners or Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection were to advise me that further legal change is needed, I will make it.