Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I had hoped that in the Deputy's supplementary question to me there would be an acknowledgement that in the figures produced yesterday, which looked at the half year, we have seen an improvement in many of the tax heads versus where we were last year and versus the targets that we have for this year. In particular, in June we saw a number of the tax heads that are particularly important in paying for our public services this year post a better performance.

With regard to the specific matters and companies the Deputy has raised with me, I am sure that the Revenue Commissioners get back promptly to queries that are raised with them. I am sure that upon the Deputy raising these points in the Dáil, these matters will gain further public attention. We have bodies whose job it is to enforce employment standards in construction and elsewhere. To answer the Deputy's question very broadly, if we look at the number of people who are classified as part-time and under employment, that has actually fallen by 6.4% in the first three months of this year. We are seeing increases in employment across the economy and increases in average earnings per hour and per week in all of the figures that we have available for 2017. The CSO is indicating a different overall picture to what the Deputy is indicating.

See this speech in context