John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is astonishing that the Minister is now appealing to the Opposition - or friends in government - to withdraw this and bring it forward as stand-alone legislation. The Minister knows quite well, because her Department compiled a report that was published in January 2018, the implications, not only in terms of workers' rights and entitlements to redundancy and holiday pay but all the other things affected as a result of bogus self-employment.

The Minister is also acutely aware that it is costing this State up to €80 million a year in lost pay-related social insurance, PRSI, contributions. For her to appeal to the Opposition to bring forward legislation that she will support sets off alarm bells that no work has been done by her Department on bringing forward legislation to stop this horrendous practice that is rampant, predominantly in the construction sector, but which is also widespread in other areas. Unfortunately, what we have got from the Minister and the Department are public relations, PR, exercises. That is the extent of their response to bogus self-employment, namely, to launch a PR campaign. There is a role for it in pointing out to people who may have ended up in bogus self-employment what they are entitled to and their rights but that is only one small part of it.

I agree with the Minister that it is unfortunate there has been no pre-legislative scrutiny of Deputy O'Dea's amendment. That is why we have Committee Stage, to go through issues like this in detail. This amendment was brought to the table very late in the day and we have not been able to do that. I have concerns about it. This should be a stand-alone Bill, as opposed to being tacked on to the tail end of the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017, which seeks to address serious issues facing many workers in precarious employment, on zero-hours contracts, if-and-when contracts and banded-hour contracts and goes some way to addressing those. Some parties have brought forward Bills and I would be interested to hear what the Minister has to say on them. My party and I are working on a Bill which we hope to bring forward just after the summer recess. There will be a multitude of Bills to choose from, with the glaring omission of one from the Minister and the Department. It is up to Deputy O'Dea to decide what he wants to do on this and whether he wants to press it. I will not be able to support because it has not received the scrutiny it needs and deserves.

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