Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the compliment. I agree with him so I thank him. I know that this is a new unit that has only been established for a couple of months but it might be helpful if at the end of every year, we issue a report on the investigations. We might not name the employers but we could set out whether investigations have been positive or negative so that we can get a feel regarding where we are hitting targets.

Anti-victimisation legislation is really important. A very young man told me that he had been working in a particular industry and was not self-employed but was forced to become self-employed along with hundreds of other people in his organisation. The problem is that it is not unique to this young man's company. It is unique to his industry. Had he rocked the boat and been let go, which is apparently what happened to previous employees in that place of work, he would have been blacklisted and would have been unable to go to similar companies. In his mind, his skill set only equipped him to work in that industry. This is not on and we must stamp it out. Apart from the obvious loss of revenue to the State, and we quibble in here year in and year out about what we could do with more money if we had it, employment rights are being trampled and we cannot stand over that. I will not stand over it.

See this speech in context