John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----in this critical legislation where anyone could put forward amendments at Report Stage. Something has to be done about bogus self-employment. The Minister has acknowledged that, even though no legislation has been brought forward to that end. This legislation will go to the Seanad, with or without this amendment. A number of amendments will be made in the Seanad by Sinn Féin and other parties on different areas of this legislation. Is the Minister sincere about addressing the area of bogus self-employment? There is an opportunity for her, as Minister, to amend this amendment in the Seanad to address the areas where she feels issues might arise, such as any possible impact on the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC. I ask her, over the summer months, to have a look at this amendment, if it is agreed, and to bring forward her own amendments.

If the Minister is sincere, and I have no reason to believe she is not, will she look at possible amendments over the summer to ensure that the Bill does what it says on the tin and addresses the area of bogus self-employment? The practice is rampant, as numerous studies have shown, and is spreading across many areas. I want to see an end to it. The idea of bringing an end to this horrendous blight on our workforce has cross-party support. Not only does it cause the loss of a large amount of money to the State in terms of PRSI, but more importantly, it is having a serious impact on the rights of workers.

That includes their holiday pay and terms and conditions which have been fought for long and hard. I ask that of the Minister.

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