Ray Butler (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome our team home and congratulate the Irish teams, North and South, on a wonderful tournament for the two teams.

I wish to raise a recent report which indicates that €20 million is being taken out of the social welfare system each year by companies employing people on a self-employed basis. A PAYE worker pays between 14% and 15% but when one is self-employed one pays an S class stamp and that is only 4%, which leaves the company paying nothing. The worker is described as being self-employed when in reality he or she is not self-employed. It sounds very good but it is a nightmare when companies fold or go bankrupt. It leaves the Department of Social Protection out of budget and the person who is out of work has very few entitlements.

I have seen many such cases following the crash in 2010, 2011 and 2012. That practice must be examined and new legislation must be introduced to combat it. I am aware of a courier company that employed everyone on a self-employed basis during the Celtic tiger and when the company folded, families were desperate and had difficulty in putting food on the table, paying their mortgages and surviving. I advise anyone who is due to be employed by a company on a self-employed basis to please check it out.