Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry but that does contradict the statement. Mr. Duggan has been consistent with the narrative previously but that is inconsistent. The Secretary General said in October 2000 that some couriers consider that they are self-employed while others regard themselves as employees. In order to resolve the matter, a number of representative test cases were selected in 1993 and 1994 for detailed investigation and a formal insurability decision under social welfare legislation. The process resulted in the decision that a courier was self-employed if he provided his own vehicle and equipment, was responsible for all expenses, including tax and insurance, and payment was made based on a rate per hour. That is clearly not individual decision-making; it is literally saying there are different kinds of cases and different opinions. We want to resolve the fact of there being different opinions and different individual cases and here is how we have decided to resolve it through these test cases. It is great to move on but let us not retrospectively recreate the process.