John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When we welcome the extension of further welfare supports for the self-employed, it must be borne in mind that many employers are engaged in bogus self-employment practices. This leaves workers who are legitimate employees high and dry when it comes to accessing social welfare supports and basic workers' rights such as annual leave, sick pay and holiday pay. While many of the self-employed will benefit from this Bill, some of them will not, through no fault of their own. This Government has not tackled the issue of bogus self-employment but it must. The result of its failure to do so is a major loss of PRSI to the State. The Government is not going after those who are engaged in this activity. Rather than recouping the money lost in PRSI, the Government is choosing to try to recoup overpayments made to social welfare recipients. Such overpayments typically result from departmental error. Coincidentally, before I became a Member, I was self-employed for 15 long years.

See this speech in context