Mr. Niall Cody:

I would not go as far as that. I am taken by the Chairman's opening comments about commenting on policy. There is a policy issue here about how legislation is developed to deal with particular circumstances. I said earlier regarding the nature of the relationship and the use of corporate structures that there is no legal basis to look through the corporate structure. In a way, legislation has evolved in other jurisdictions that has not here.

The other point, which the chairman mentioned earlier, is that social insurance ultimately is primarily a matter for the Department of Social Protection, which owns the policy and the legislation. The PRSI system is complicated, with multiple classes. There has long been talk of modernisation and reform. There have been various discussions on integrating PRSI and USC. Any time it is looked at, it is hugely complex and difficult to modernise because it impacts in various different ways.