Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 10:

In page 16, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following:

“Bogus self-employment

22.The Minister shall review the issue of bogus self-employment and its consequences, including the cost to the Exchequer and the implications for those who have been wrongly designated as self-employed and shall bring forward a report on the same within 3 months of this Bill being enacted.”.

Perhaps I am being a bit ambitious in looking for this to be done in three months but I think it should be looked at. I do not want to reiterate all that has been said in the Chamber in the context of this Bill and another Bill we are dealing with about bogus self-employment. Bogus self-employment should be combatted by the State for a number of reasons. The obvious one is that employees have gained many rights, largely due to our membership of the European Union. Miscellaneous legislation on the Statue Book protects workers' rights and ceases to operate once a worker becomes self-employed.

At a stroke of a pen people who are really workers and who are forced to designate themselves as self-employed unilaterally surrender all these hard won rights.

There are also revenue implications for the State. In a situation where somebody is actually a worker but is forced, and we are speaking about people who are forced and not people who opt to be self-employed, to designate themselves as self-employed then payment of employers' PRSI is lost to the State. As I understand it, this phenomenon started in the construction trade and has spread to other areas including retail generally and high-tech areas. Let it be said and put on record that the State itself, in the shape of State and semi-State companies, is among the worst offenders in this regard, or at least it is beginning to be among the worst offenders. Something needs to be done about this.

The Minister will recall that I tabled an amendment to the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill that was passed by the House. While we were waiting for the Bill to be progressed to the Seanad I got intimations from the Department that the Minister could not proceed with the Bill unless the section introduced by the amendment was removed. I also received correspondence, which I have with me, from ICTU asking me not to oppose this removal on the basis the other basic protections in the Bill were badly and urgently needed and had been awaited for a long time. On this basis I told our Senators not to oppose any proposal by the Government on Committee Stage to remove that particular provision as it would delay much needed reforms for people in precarious employment. I understand Committee Stage is being taken next week. Of course, this does not make the problem go away. We still have the continual problem with bogus self-employment. I receive complaints about it and instances of it literally every week that passes. I do not care about reports that state the problem has stabilised or the numbers are not as big as elsewhere or as big as we suggest. Anecdotally I see it on a constant basis and I hear about it from my colleagues. Sometimes when I read official reports I wonder whether we are living in a different world down in the midwest. My colleagues, not just in Fianna Fáil but in all parties, have confirmed to me that it is a persistent and continuing problem and something has to be done about it.

I have moved the amendment mainly to give the Minister the opportunity to outline, now that we have agreed to remove the section of the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, what precisely are the Government proposals in this regard. Will it bring forward its own legislation? Does it have definitive proposals? Has it thought about this or discussed it? There will be an ongoing discussion on it by the committee but in this regard the power lies with the Government and I am very anxious to know where the Government stands on it at this juncture.

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