Mr. Martin McMahon:

I will start with Revenue. Revenue has told the Committee of Public Accounts it is nothing more than a collection agent for PRSI on behalf of the Department of Social Protection. Revenue should not have a view other than it is a collection agent for the Department of Social Protection, but Revenue has told the committee it does have a view, and an historical view, that couriers are self-employed. That is not Revenue's call. Revenue does not get to make that call. That is a social welfare call. Revenue has overstepped the mark in even having an opinion on whether couriers are employed or self-employed.

Revenue says that for tax and PRSI purposes it has labelled them all as self-employed. There is no other purpose to be self-employed. It is only for tax and PRSI purposes. A person is not self-employed for the purpose of telling bedtime stories. It is for tax and PRSI. Revenue has labelled them as self-employed, full stop, regardless of tax and PRSI.

The failure to collect PRSI is what now has us in a pensions crisis. It is my opinion there is no pensions crisis. There is a failure to collect employers' PRSI crisis going back over 40 years, which has never been resolved.

I have seen 19 decisions from the scope section. Of those 19 decisions there is only one that I would say was questionable. From the social welfare appeals office I have seen 19 decisions. There is only one of those where I would say it was not questionable. There is only one where it literally refused to hear the case. Even though it was appealed, it literally refused to hear the case. Once it gets into the social welfare appeals office, it is using test cases and precedents set by test cases.