Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 151: To ask the Minister for Finance the number of meetings held by the Hidden Economy Working Group, referred to by him in his response to Parliamentary Question No. 38 of 21 June 2006, during 2006; the dates of these meetings; the approximate duration of each of these meetings; the names and offices of the members of this working group; when this working group is expected to report; the persons to whom it will report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32035/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that there have been 57 meetings of the Hidden Economy Monitoring Group since its commencement in 1990.

The dates of the most recent meetings are as follows:

24th. February 2000

3rd. May 2000

20th. June 2000

12th. September 2000

30th. November 2000

1st. February 2001

19th. April 2001

29th. November 2001

21st February 2002

18th. November 2002

19th. January 2004

15th. November 2005.

The meetings last for approximately 2 to 3 hours.

The Group consists of representatives from the Department of Social and Family Affairs, the Construction Industry Federation (CIF), the Small Firms Association (SFA) the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation (IBEC), the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and the Revenue Commissioners. The names of the individuals who attended the last meeting were:

Norman Gillanders, Revenue Commissioners

Margaret Whelan, Revenue Commissioners

John Tomlin, Revenue Commissioners

Dan Kavanagh, Department of Social and Family Affairs

Fergus Whelan, ICTU

Lorraine Parkes, IBEC

George Hennessy, CIF

Patricia Callan, SFA.

Most recently two of the members have changed. Ms Avine Mc Nally is now the representative for the SFA and Mr. Daniel Harty is the new representative for the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

The Terms of Reference for the Group are: "to provide a forum for the exchange of views on the effectiveness of measures introduced in combating the 'black economy' between the Revenue Commissioners and Department of Social Welfare and representatives of employers, trade unions and the construction industry".

As a standing forum there are no formal requirements for the Group to report formally. However, the issues raised in the Group inform actions and responses to the problem of the hidden economy.

In the context of the new Social Partnership agreement Towards 2016, it is proposed that the Hidden Economy Working Group will be relaunched upon its ratification, and will meet on a monthly basis or as appropriate thereafter. As agreed in section 14.1 of Towards 2016, a representative of the new Office of the Director of Employment Rights Compliance (ODERC) will join the Hidden Economy Monitoring Group.