Mr. Niall Cody:

Some of the flat rate expenses date back to the 1950s and 1960s. When we commenced our review, it was clear to us that, due to the passage of time, changes in employment law and the introduction of health and safety legislation, some of them were not being incurred anymore and were out of date. I reviewed some of this recently. In 2015, there was a series of parliamentary questions about the differences in flat rate expenses. Some were provided on a gender basis. For example, a male in one category of worker had a higher flat rate expense than the female. One of the Deputy's colleagues asked a parliamentary question and I remember seeing the answer and thinking that what it described looked odd and did not reflect a modern economy. It is also the case that flat rate expenses apply to sectors that are well represented, but a whole range of people have not had that facility to negotiate such expenses.

We have comprehensively reviewed the basis and the submissions. We will have a detailed report, which we will publish, but as regards-----