Mr. Martin McMahon:

I will clarify about the 1995 test case. As the Secretary General of the Department of Social Protection has told the Committee of Public Accounts, a number of test cases were selected. They do not explain how they were selected. They do not explain who was involved in the selection process. They do not explain what safeguards were taken to make sure these were actually representative test cases. It was not the courier. The courier went looking for a decision, from the scope section, because he was put forward by the courier industry as a test case.

The question arises whether he was actually representative of couriers. The courier, who was meant to have been there, has put on record that he was not in the country and had emigrated. It was confirmed by the general manager of the company that the worker had emigrated. That begs the question, who actually was in the test case in the social welfare appeals office in 1995 if it was not the courier who was found to be an employee by the scope section? Who actually appeared? Because of this secrecy, we do not know. We do not know which self-appointed spokesman for all couriers past, present and future stood in the social welfare appeals office and said they were happy to be called self-employed.