Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is not clear under what criteria a person would be deemed to fall into this third category of employment where he or she would neither be an employee nor self-employed. We would essentially be creating a lesser category of employee who we acknowledge is not self-employed but to whom we would not afford the same full suite of employment rights to which he or she is currently entitled.

It is important to reiterate that the Department of Social Protection is engaged in revising and updating the code of practice to reflect the new working models and also recent case law which the Senator alluded to in the determination of employment status. That code is being updated by way of an interdepartmental working group in consultation with the social partners and it is expected that that update code will be published within the coming months.

I will feed in what has been said by both Senators here today on foot of this Commencement debate to that international working group. If the Senators want to put something formally by way of a written submission, I will ensure that is taken on board also.