Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett. I want to acknowledge the significant interest that Deputy Boyd Barrett has in this sector and the work that he is doing.

I listened over a number of years to the different debates and contributions that were raised in this sector by Deputy Boyd Barrett. In the aftermath of the debate that happened here two years ago, my Department did work on last year's Finance Bill that led to an important change being made in terms of the qualifications and criteria that need to be met to access the section 481 relief for particular projects.

I want to indicate to the House the continued interest that the Department of Finance will have in this matter. As Deputies may be aware, the Workplace Relations Commission is conducting an audit of this sector at present to look at the kind of employment practices that are in place and the kind of standards that need to be met. I will be interested in the outcome from this process and in the recommendations that come out of it.

Where I differ with Deputy Boyd Barrett is that, given the nature of the industry, there will be ways in which it organises itself via projects that are different to other forms of employment.

That said, section 481 is a valuable relief. It is a particularly valuable relief when one looks at the amount which has been claimed against this relief as a percentage of the total value of this sector within our economy currently. It uses the taxpayers' money to try to deliver particular objectives. I want to indicate to the House that I will be taking a particular interest in this issue where a tax relief is made available to a particular entity and this entity then claims it is not the employer. I want to understand how widespread this is and why this is happening. There may well be good reasons why it is happening.

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