Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----the solution should be fairly simple in one sense because there is a legislative route we could explore. I say that because I understand how there could be an element of self-employment in the construction sector. In many cases, we are talking about small, independent contractors which might need carpenters or labourers for a defined time. It would not make sense for either party to be involved in an employment contract per se. However, if we were to set out in legislation conditions to clarify when an obligation falls on an employer to consider someone an employee, for example, a defined period of time, number of hours or number of contracts in an employment, that could provide a means to easily resolve a large proportion of these cases. Does Mr. McMahon have a sense of what those definitions should be regarding periods of time, lengths of contracts and numbers of hours worked?