Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Cynicism about politics and this Chamber is at an all-time high, and it is unbelievably patronising of the Minister to come out with an answer in which he spent time telling me the address of the Revenue Commissioners' website.

If one examines what the State is losing in tax receipts for directly employed workers in the sector in the period I mentioned - 2008 to 2014, inclusive - it amounts to €2.5 billion. What is going on here is that the Government is encouraging a race to the bottom of a cheap-labour economy to back up the so-called recovery, because the Minister does not seem perturbed that the Revenue Commissioners are losing this money. What is most worrying for the workers involved who pay the price is that the Minister makes it sound as though they have a choice. They show up, and if they do not agree to go along with these conditions they are sacked. That is what happened in Rhatigan's last year, of which we spoke in the Dáil. One recruitment company, CLS Recruitment, which is only down the road, boasts that the advantages for employers of using this system include no PRSI, no holiday pay, no pension, no bank holiday pay and the ability to both hire and "off-hire" - that means sack - staff at one hour's notice throughout the country. They are encouraging the race to the bottom.

So, it seems, is the Government in order to have a so-called economic recovery.

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