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

To be clear, obviously, no two cases are the same. Many organisations legally use intermediaries and are perfectly entitled to do so and enjoy the benefits that go with that. However, where the deciding officers in the scope section determine that there is an intermediary, that does not preclude us from determining, in the case of a person working through the intermediary to, perhaps, a Department such as that referred to by the Senator or any other organisation, that the end user is the employer. The fact that there is an intermediary body does not automatically mean that the end user receiving the services of the person is not the employer. It also does not automatically mean that the end user is the employer. I am suggesting that the section implies that we do not have powers which we already possess. Our deciding officers can currently decide, notwithstanding an intermediary structure, that the end user receiving the services of a contractor, for want of a better word, or a person who is allegedly self-employed is, in fact, the employer.