John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Thank you. I will come to Deputy O'Dea shortly. I want to make a general comment, and the Department made the same comment when its representatives were here, about the number of people who are self-employed declining as a percentage. Ms Winters is right that the percentage is declining, but there is no decline in the actual number of people because the total workforce is increasing significantly. Using percentages can sometimes skew the picture a little.

The committee is interested in the construction industry in particular. Ms Winters stated:

In August 2018 the ... ESRI published research on “Measuring Contingent Employment in Ireland”. The ESRI looked at the prevalence of self-employed with no employees in several sectors and concluded it remains a relatively minor component of the Irish labour market, accounting for a little over 2% of total employment in 2016.

The figure Ms Winters gave for the construction industry was 31,900, or more than 20% of the total, who are classed as self-employed with no employees. That contrast between the 2% in the ESRI report and the 20% in the construction industry is one of the reasons the committee has concerns. Ms Winters can come back to this in due course. It is not that we are making unfounded allegations or anything like that. It is the fact Ms Winters has clearly demonstrated that 2% is the across the board percentage but her own figures have more than 20% as self-employed. This is why there is a spotlight on the construction industry in particular. Ms Winters will have an opportunity to address that in more detail. I call Deputy O'Dea.