Mr. Martin McMahon:

Absolutely. I can say from the cases I have been involved in is that every single one of them lost his or her job, and that is another problem. The vast majority of them were blacklisted from their industry. There is a blacklist in construction and in the courier industry. Anybody who pokes his or her head above the parapet is shot down and is finished for good. On the issue of whether cases will come forward, I know in the construction sector that it is very hard to get people to come forward because they know the consequences. It should be proactive.

This is social welfare fraud. There is a control section within the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection that spends an awful lot of money telling us that if it did not exist, social welfare fraud would go through the roof. This is social welfare fraud, except that it is costing far more than claimant fraud. Why not put some of those resources that are in the control section into investigating this? One cannot use the code of practice. One must use the proper guidelines, which are handed down by the courts. What is handed down by the employment status group, ESG, is hearsay. It is opinion and is an interpretation of an interpretation.