Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. McMahon for his contribution to the committee. He has interesting observations. I understand from his opening remarks that he has been dealing with this issue for quite a number of years, so I admire his persistence on the issue.

In terms of the bogus self-employed, Mr. McMahon mentioned couriers, meter workers and journalists, for example. How prevalent does he believe the overall issue is in society?

I looked at the NESC report from November of last year and it says it is about 10% of those who were declared self-employed in Dublin and elsewhere, yet in Kerry for example, it was higher, at around 21%, which might tally with Mr. McMahon's earlier remarks about farm labourers, etc. I am interested in his opinion on the NESC report from November 2020. I have heard him refer quite a bit to couriers today, but in which other sectors and areas does he believe bogus self-employment is very prominent? How many workers are we talking about? He referred to pensions or, in his opinion, the lack thereof, but how many employees are we talking about across the State at any given time?