Mr. Conor O'Connell:

Several Deputies have acknowledged the need for greater data on this area before legislation is enacted. We support such a stance. I also note all Deputies have acknowledged legitimate self-employment and that the construction sector, by its nature, has a large number of people who are self-employed. I will explain some of the reasons behind that. There was a very severe downturn in the construction sector where a situation developed, especially among the craftspeople, such as skilled carpenters, skilled plasterers or skilled bricklayers, who became less reliant on employers for employment and more reliant on themselves. They could control the flow of work. Continuity of employment is a significant issue in the construction sector, even now in places where the industry is busy there may be a piece of blockwork to carry out for several weeks and then no more need for bricklayers or blocklayers on the site for several more weeks or months thereafter. Even when a contractor is busy certain trades or skills may only be needed at certain times. Therefore, continuity of employment can be an issue so some people go down the route of being self-employed to have greater control of their flow of work. That is one reason such a large number is self-employed in the sector. However, as members have said, there is a need for more data on the matter.

There are also structural issues in the industry. Some years ago one-off houses were able to opt out of the building control amendment regulation system. We warned at the time that this would not be conducive to a properly regulated industry. If we are going to examine bogus self-employment we must also examine some of the structural issues in the industry which are not conducive to a properly regulated environment in the construction sector.