Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I welcome the fact that we have an SEO for the sector and I am delighted that the Minister of State has accepted the recommendation made by the Labour Court. That is very important and welcome.

The Labour Court has produced an interesting report on the SEO because there was quite a battle. I commend Connect Trade Union on successfully convincing the Labour Court of the merits of an SEO, which will benefit all workers across the sector. It is a great day's work or perhaps months of work by Connect Trade Union, in particular. This is a good day and I hope that we will agree to support the SEO.

As the Minister of State will know, an awful lot of the Connect members work in the construction industry. One issue I know he is very familiar with is the scourge of bogus self-employment. My colleague, Deputy O'Reilly, has raised the issue with him a number of times and given specific examples, including payslips etc. and this matter even involves local authorities.

I have a real worry about bogus self-employment. This week, I spoke to workers on a site in Limerick where I discovered that out of the seven blocklayers working for a subcontractor, as many as six were self-employed, which is absolute nonsense. I wish to ask the Minister of State a direct question, which I know that he will take in the spirit that it is given. Why has his Department not done more to tackle the scourge of bogus self-employment? I ask because the practice seems to be widening. I also worry that bogus self-employment will undermine the strong and good conditions that have been set out in the SEO.