On Friday last, 23 June, the Taoiseach's special adviser invited one of my constituents, who is involved in filing a new Standards in Public Office, SIPO, complaint about the undue influence of Uber and Deliveroo on public policy, to a meeting in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with two officials. My constituent was accompanied by the general secretary of the App Drivers and Couriers Union in the UK, Mr. James Farrar, who recently turned down a £100,000 hush-money payment as part of a settlement with Uber following a five year legal battle in the UK's Supreme Court.

During the meeting in question, the officials were asked to do a number of things - I have a full list here. First, they were asked that the precedent set by the Spanish Government in increasing the number of legal working hours per week be followed in order that those in Ireland on student visas might be allowed to work from 20 to 30 hours per week as a cost-of-living measure that will protect them from exploitation and from having to work in the informal economy to afford to live in this country. Second, that it be ensured that stamp 2 and other visa holders can open delivery accounts in their own names legally and that departmental definitions be updated to recognise that the type of work done by Deliveroo and Uber Eats riders in Ireland is not genuine self-employment, as envisaged when the current rules were introduced in 2010. It is clear that these riders are most definitely not conducting their own business here. The third ask was for a commitment to the speedy introduction of a new €6 per delivery minimum payment or an €18 per hour minimum wage for delivery couriers. This would be similar to the deal reached in New York city. The fourth ask was that the Government should ensure that payments can only increase in line with inflation and not decrease, as has been happening since 2019.

As the leader of the Government, will the Taoiseach proactively ensure a reversal of recent trends towards slave wages here? Those trends led to minimum payments for deliveries fall from €4.39 in 2019 to €2.90 in 2021 and to as little as €1.30 and 36 cent per delivery in 2023. This is all happening while Deliveroo advertises free delivery on billboards and as part of Amazon Prime membership. Will the Government follow examples elsewhere by fixing the fee per delivery at €6 or at €18 per hour for this dangerous work? Will it follow through on the other commitments given arising from meetings with delivery workers and their representatives on 10 March 2021 and on 23 June 2023? Will the Taoiseach and his colleagues in Government welcome and fully co-operate with new SIPO, Garda National Economic Crime Bureau and Europol investigations into any potential undue influence and preferential treatment these platform companies may have enjoyed thus far at national and European level? Will the Taoiseach support parliamentary inquiries at national and European level into the types of political influence these companies are trying to exert, especially after Deliveroo shareholders recently voted in favour of making political donations to and incurring political costs for those parties and politicians who do their bidding?

I thank the Deputy. I worked on this issue during my previous role as Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. I met with delivery riders and some of their representatives, trade union groups and others, at my request. I also met with the main company involved. Under the auspices of the Labour Employer Economic Forum, we established a dedicated working group on the determination of employment status which includes representatives from unions and employers. This working group has met three times and is now chaired by the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Richmond. A revised code of practice on determining employment status was published in July of 2021 by the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys. The code is the guidance document for employers, workers and others in relation to deciding the employment status of a worker. It was revised to take account of new labour market developments, including platform work.

Of particular interest to the Deputy may be the fact that ministers for employment and social affairs agreed on a European general approach to a new European directive to improve working conditions for platform workers. The European Council is now ready to start negotiations on this with the European Parliament. Under the European Council's general approach, which Ireland supports, workers will be legally presumed to be employees of a digital platform, not self-employed, if their relationship fulfils certain criteria as set out in the directive.

On student visas, the rules in Ireland are that students are allowed to work 20 hours a week and no more. Those rules are there to protect them from exploitation. We want students to be studying, not working, for most of their time. We have work permits and work visas which allow people to work a 48-hour week on average but student visas are for students. I do not want students coming here and ending up working full-time and not being able to study.

Maybe the Taoiseach will recommend students not work for Deliveroo in that case, because they are obviously being exploited. The fact they can only work a 20-hour week is what gives that company the right to exploit them. Maybe the Taoiseach will make that call. It would be helpful. There is an EU directive coming. That will be useful but it will take many years to come to fruition. It has to be negotiated at the Commission and so forth. Surely we can do something now that would make life better for those Deliveroo workers?

In a letter to the Taoiseach dated 18 May 2021, Deliveroo stated, "as discussed at our meeting, Deliveroo is committed to working with you and your officials to find a solution". It also stated:

I note your comments that the Irish definitions of employment and self-employment are currently highly complex, with different interpretations across multiple different departments. As you work through your plans to update and unify these definitions, Deliveroo is more than willing to provide information and evidence as necessary to provide a complete picture of how our riders work. I also appreciated your comments in the meeting that your intent is not to undermine the ability of businesses like Deliveroo to operate.

Is Ireland's contribution to the new EU directive being made on behalf of workers' rights or on behalf of Deliveroo?

As is always the case when it comes to any issue, we take into account a number of factors. It is absolutely about workers' rights and ensuring that these are protected and that people have better pay, terms and conditions and security. As the person who, as Minister, brought in statutory sick pay, began the process of bringing in a living wage, protected tips and gratuities and who led a Government that brought in paternity benefit and parental leave, I hope the Deputy will accept my bona fides in that regard. There are few people in this House who can say they have done more than that in the course of their political careers to improve the rights of workers. However, we must take other things into account. This is a service. These are services people use to get takeaways delivered to their houses. We do not want to shut that down. We need to take into account the worker, the consumer and, of course, the wider economic benefits for the State.

One of the most interesting aspects of meeting the riders was actually hearing from them and not just their representatives or people who claim to represent them. The riders had different views. Some would very much like to have the status of employees. Others said - I remember the meeting well - they liked this system of working because they did not want to have a boss, did not want to be told what days they had to work and wanted to choose their own routes. Thus, there are people who want flexible working like this and who do not necessarily want to be employees.