Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to speak on the Industrial Development (Amendment) Bill 2018. I have to declare that I am a long-standing employer although I am an employee as well. Listening to my good friend and colleague, Deputy Boyd Barrett, we are an endangered species. It is not safe to be an employer any more because we all should be locked up and the key thrown away. I am not having a go at Deputy Boyd Barrett but there are an awful lot of good employers and decent self-employed small business people who trudge daily and deal with all the regulations pertaining to their particular occupation. I cannot envisage the situation where, as the Deputy said, it is only a matter of going online and registering as self-employed. A person has to have a certain turnover and legitimate employment records in the business. He or she also must apply to the Revenue to register for VAT and everything else. I cannot imagine that it is like getting a lucky bag in a shop or online to become self-employed. That is not true at all. I agree with some parts of his comments, however, on some of the bigger companies and the subcontracted work where there might be bullying and intimidation going on, with people being forced to be self-employed in some areas.

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