Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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I will allow Members back in for a second round but first I wish to revisit the area of bogus self-employment. Revenue obviously collects PRSI, as I understand it, and the ESB decides the status. There would appear to be evidence to suggest that Revenue has arrangements on an ad hocbasis with different sectors and agreements with certain companies. The courier sector is one that has been highlighted to me. In 2000, the Committee of Public Accounts wrote to Revenue about couriers being treated as de factoself-employed people. The response received at that time indicated that there was a special bespoke tax agreement between Revenue and a group of couriers that were represented by an accountancy firm or group of solicitors. While the staff involved that the time were listed as employees, they could change their status to a class S PRSI contribution. I understand what such a contribution is. This issue was referred to a few moments ago in terms of avoiding the payment of employers' PRSI, which is obviously a major concern to taxpayers and to employers who pay the balance of what is due on the basis of the different income bands. The agreement to which I refer was discontinued, as I understand it. How much was lost in employers' PRSI contributions as a result of that special arrangement? Are there more bespoke agreements with individual companies and sectors? Why did the deal come to an end in 2019?