Mr. Martin McMahon:

I will go back a little on this. Back in the 1970s, PAYE workers went on strike because they felt they were shouldering so much of the burden of the expense of the State, and they were right. After that, Revenue implemented a system where any company that paid a person over £3,000 had to declare that. Therefore, Revenue knew that that person was working. Whether he or she was employed or self-employed, it did not matter; he or she was getting money. The black economy was being taken under control. If people were employees, they did not have to make the declaration. If they were not employees, every company needed to declare. This is the way it worked.

The courier industry emerged in the 1980s, and it grew very large very fast. All the couriers were being paid on the lump, which means no tax, no PRSI and cash in hand and some of them - and I will say this - also claimed social welfare. That went on, and so Revenue and social welfare became interested. They only focused on the worker. It was a question of how to get the worker into the tax system and not a question of how to get the employer into the tax system.

The employers went from taking a position, which was wholly illegal and which was not in compliance with their statutory obligations, and they convinced Revenue that it was a grey area and that it was more unlawful than illegal. Revenue then acted to turn what was illegal and unlawful into legal. That is what has happened. We have a practice that was wholly illegal that is now quite accepted as legal.