Bogus self-employment laws
Concern was expressed that forthcoming industrial relations legislation should tackle bogus self-employment, including in public procurement. The Tánaiste said new legislation was proceeding and suggested tabling an amendment.
In recent months, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has advertised that employees who feel they may be victims of bogus self-employment practices should report that, which is welcome. It has been a long time coming because such practices are widespread, particularly in the construction industry. Does the Government have any intention, in the forthcoming Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill, to deal with this in a comprehensive manner? There are still problems in this regard. That is particularly the case in an area that we could do something about, which is public procurement contracts. For example, I received a call I this morning from building workers employed on such a contract in St. Mary's Mansions on Gardiner Street building houses for Clúid, the voluntary housing association. The workers say there is bogus self-employment on the site. They have not received their wages for weeks, they are not getting pay slips and no pension contributions have been made. The joint investigations unit should be down there today or tomorrow. We need the Government to act on this issue of bogus self-employment.
