Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

My time is tight and there are a number of questions I want to ask. I am not being rude. It is likely that the committee will write a short report following the meetings with Revenue and the Department of Social Protection. Obviously, there is a third entity, the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, on the employment rights side. We could make a recommendation on the definition of employment and whether that needs a statutory basis. I read part of the Kashan judgment last week to the officials from the Department of Social Protection. It states:

The issue presents itself here in the context of drivers who provide delivery services for the respondent’s pizza business. The respondent (‘Karshan’) contends that these drivers were engaged as independent contractors under contracts for services, while the appellant (‘Revenue’) argues that they were employees retained under contracts of service. The resolution of that dispute determines which of two legal regimes governs the taxation of the drivers’ income.

There is a real difficulty when there are two legal regimes.