Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

On the question of definitions, I find what Ms Murphy has just said interesting. She started by saying that the definition of "employee"must be flexible to allow it to morph and change as circumstances change but that goes to the heart of the problem. IBEC wants to have it every way. It wants to change the definition to suit an employer and then argue that it is to suit the self-employed. That is the most illogical form of constructive ambiguity that I have heard in a long time.

Ms Murphy is doing it in order to cover up what really is not about the individual window cleaner, but the widespread practice of forcing workers to define themselves as independent contractors in order to exploit their working conditions, pay and so on. It leaves them very insecure and also robs the State of social protection funds, taxation and all the other things. Ms Murphy needs to listen back to what she just said because the workers who provide us with the recordings, provide us with a very valuable piece of evidence. What she just said makes out that definitions can and must be flexible in order to allow for the flexibility of the labour market to suit IBEC.