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

I congratulate the committee on taking up this issue. Like other members, I am shocked the Department is not keeping records of bogus self-employment. Such an approach is the definition of putting one's head in the sand when there is this massive perceived issue. I accept the Department has said that the perception is greater than the reality. I would be very surprised, with the benefit of hindsight in ten years' time, if that turns out to be the case. If we consider what is happening internationally, this is a major issue on which various governments, parties, etc., are moving to deal with because of the expansion of bogus self-employment. Some 12% of workers in Ireland are self-employed with no employees. That does not mean they are all bogus self-employed but it certainly opens up that possibility. The information from trade unions and others suggests there is a major level of bogus self-employment in a few specific sectors, namely, in construction, delivery services, courier services and those kinds of areas. They involve quite a number of workers.

On more specific questions and following on from Senator Higgins's question, the overturning of scope decisions is pretty important. It would be extremely important to get the figures, in absolute terms and in percentage terms, of scope decisions that found that people were employees where the social welfare appeals office overturned that decision.

I have another question which might be outside the Department's realm and which I will try to raise at the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach as it might be more relevant to it. Are there tax rulings by Revenue for particular industries or companies that state it considers workers in this area to be self-employed? If it was found that those rulings were not accurate and not legally sound, is it the case that this would amount to illegal state aid, similar to how the European Commission has found that the tax ruling by Revenue with Apple amounted to that, whereby those who were engaging and benefitting on foot of bogus self-employment, were making a substantial saving, perhaps around 30%?

Does the social welfare appeals office rely on the employment status group's code of practice for determining employment or self-employment status of individuals when making determinations? Does the scope unit not rely on it or if it does, what is the legal basis for it to rely on that as opposed to the relevant legislation?