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Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty at the launch of the Government’s Self Employed Benefits Awareness Campaign in City Hall yesterday.

To much fanfare, the Taoiseach and the Social Welfare Minister launched a ‘Self Employment Benefits Awareness’ campaign this week.

This is their happy clappy attempt to distract from the fact that somewhere between 20% and %100 of you (depending on the industry, and yes some industries are 100% bogus self employment), didn’t choose to be self employed, don’t want to be self employed and have no idea at all why you are labeled as self employed.

Maybe you’re new into the workforce and you don’t know any better, maybe you’ve been around for a while and you know that this job you used to do as an employee is no different to the job you are now are forced to do as self employed, but damned if you know how your employer is getting away with it. .

Bogus self employed workers lose holiday pay, sick pay, maternity pay, workplace protections, including the right to join a union; face an increased tax burden; receive no overtime pay; and may have no recourse for workplace injury violations and disability-related disputes.

The loss of all these rights, your rights as an employee, results in a labour cost saving to your rogue employer of about 30%.

Bogus self employment has become a no brainer for employers. Ireland is the only country in Europe where an employer can register a worker as self employed without the consent, involvement or knowledge of the worker.

There have been no widespread investigations into bogus self employment since 2001. Once in a while, Revenue inspectors will arrive on a building site and pick off a few of the lowest hanging fruits to placate the odd journalist who asks questions, otherwise, it’s a bogus self employment free for all with the full consent and backing of the government through various ‘special tax arrangements’ like the eRCT and the Courier Agreement.

Bogus self employment doesn’t just steal from workers, it is stealing massive amounts from the state too. In 2017, 75,000 construction workers were registered as self-employed out of a total workforce of 130,000.

At least 30% of these self employed workers are bogus self employed workers with no employees of their own. The loss to the state is in the hundreds of millions and it is only the tip of the iceberg.

Rogue employers are now demanding that groups of workers set up companies to filter their wages through so that employers can evade PRSI. These come under the ‘self employed with employees’ category, nobody is even looking at the area for bogus self employment but it is happening and on an ever increasing scale.

When the construction industry collapsed in 2007, we were given the opportunity to have a unique insight into just how much bogus self employment in the construction industry was costing the state.

Between the years of 2008 and 2014 there was a combined total of 500,000 construction workers registered as self-employed. The total tax take in those years from those workers was minus 90 million!

YES – (minus) 90,000,000 euro from 500,000 self-employed contract situations over 6 years. 500,000 employment contracts situations would have netted the exchequer somewhere around 2 billion for the same period.

Now here’s the really astounding thing, these ‘Special Tax Arrangements’ like the eRCT and the Courier Agreement were not established to actually collect revenue, they were established to bring workers, who had traditionally been working in the Black Economy, into the tax net.

As the former Comptroller & Auditor General wrote:

All concerned recognise that it is far from being an ideal system and that there is room for improvement.

But the improvements never came, the Black Economy is still the Black Economy and it is bigger and slicker than it has ever been.

The government has agreed to turn a blind eye to bogus self employment because that’s the price they are willing to pay to reduce the numbers on the unemployment register.

For those outside the construction sector, there has never been any wide or even narrow scale investigations. Don’t bother trying to challenge you employment status, it can take up to 3 years, cost you  10s of thoudands in in legal fees and the fix is already in before you start. Instead, Leo and Regina will make you pay more PRSI for very very limited benefits.

You are truly lost in self employment.

Martin McMahon podcasts with Tony Groves at The Echo Chamber and blogs at RamshornRepublic

Previously: Deconstructing Bogus Self Employment

Rollingnews

Last week, with a twenty five euro Golden Disc voucher on offer, we asked YOU:

Apart from ‘Take On Me’, what A-Ha song still goes you the chills?

You answered in your dozens.

But there could be only one winner.

In reverse order then

A-Ha – Touchy

Ouch writes:

Owing to its chorus..’Me I’m touchy..touchy touch you….’ you couldn’t make it up but they did!

A-Ha – The Sun Always Shines On TV

Martco writes:

1) the first time I noticed it at all was when watching a highlights segment (with it as the background music) of a horse called Sean Kelly doing a timetrial & utterly ruining everyone else on the road that day & demonstrating definite proof to me that we should allow cyclists take whatever they want in order to be the best and win at all costs…& I went out & found & bought the 12″ (google it) that weekend which is on de shelf at home here to this day.

2) My future to be Mrs Martco including it on a mixtape (google it) she did up for me when we started going out together, her 2nd favourite song after…you’ve guessed it…

3) because they can still bang out the song good and proper, see here for proof (54:30 ish onwards) unusually A-Ha were actually a competent outfit…

A-Ha – Stay On These Roads

Digs writes:

 The most beautiful A-Ha song, and indeed one of the finest Scandinavian pop perfect songs written by a band other than ABBA is, “Stay on These Roads”.
It soars like a cheesetastic zeppelin!I spent a year or two playing it on repeat at 3am every morning with my infant son’s head burrowed into my shoulder when he woke up crying! Never failed to soothe him…I wouldn’t be a popular winner, but if you got an independent body to actually adjudicate, it’d be a no brainer.

A-Ha Manhattan Skyline

Halla writes

Apart from ‘Take on Me’, I am rather fond of A-Ha’s ‘Manhattan Skyline’ owing to its utter fabness as a song and the fact it kids on all the way through it’s a dramatic New York story only to reveal right in the last line it’s a picture in a paper and they’re probably hanging playing out this heartbreaking story back in Norway somewhere, which just isn’t quite as romantic somehow….

Winner

A-Ha – Hunting High And Low

RandomNoise writes:

 Got to be Hunting High and Low. Beautiful, melancholic tune with casual minor key changes dappled here and there. Also love the slightly second language feel of the lyrics – the “I guess” sounds slightly studied, but scans perfectly in the line. Timeless, whether heard on the cassette copy of their album I robbed from my older brother when I was a nipper, or on the YouTube video of their Royal Albert Hall gig in 2010 – . Legends.

Golden Discs

From top: Ireland and Ulster captain Rory Best at a press conference in Paris yesterday; Gormla Hughes

Getting my hair cut last week, I was asked, when I said I loved running in the dark, was I not afraid something might happen to me.

I said no – my age deems me invisible and experience had already taught me that the likelihood of being sexual harassed or assaulted was far higher, by someone I knew. But of course, there are exceptions. I know this too.

When #NotMyCaptain started trending, I read the comments about Rory Best, OBE, captain of the Irish Union International Rugby team, attending the courtroom the day the alleged victim was giving her evidence.

Two thoughts immediately sprung to mind; the first, that his presence that particular day was, without question in my opinion, an orchestrated strategy and second, I remembered Brian Murphy—the young man beaten until he died, a mere thirty seconds later, outside Club Anabel, 30 August 2000, by four former Blackrock College students, a place well known for its tradition of producing excellent rugby players.

At the time, newspapers spoke of these young men in glowing terms, men with bright futures ahead of them. Even the judge, in his sentencing statement said he did not want to cause any reputational damage to them by being too harsh for a night that was obviously just a bit of drunken madness—a statement dangerously close to assertions made about men who physically harm or rape women.

[Language such as ‘bright future’ attached to privileged young men, subliminally excludes women, any person of colour or with a disability—with the class division widened with the use of terms such as ‘animals’ and ‘thugs’.]

In those days, I listened to the radio when I was driving. I remember being so angry and sad, in equal measure. I remember thinking there is no justice in this world, why bother reporting anything, when men and the privileged will be ‘looked after’ every time.

I also know, there is much invested in maintaining their reputation.

I went to a private school. A school closely linked to two well known ‘rugby’ schools. I would often hear the girls talking about what they were going to wear to a match the following weekend — and any girl who had an older sister who was able to pass on information as to where the players would be celebrating or commiserating after the match was given extra attention (eat your heart out Madame Bovary).

The school scarf of a rugby player was a prized possession, one that brought the wearer extra attention and favour. If a girl was lucky enough to be given one by her boyfriend, she was lauded – elevated to a place others strove to reach. It meant she had been chosen.

If the girl went out with him long enough to bring him home to meet her parents, she was elevated higher – rewarded by bringing her shopping for extra clothes, maybe even a sneaky manicure. Her father, boasting at work about who his daughter was dating tended to be received more warmly in the business world.

Social circles increase, favours are done for the parents of – for the players – for the teachers – for the coaches – for their supporters, business introductions, tips on how to avoid paying too much tax – a world where many blind eyes are turned.

Furthermore.

The more caps a player achieves, the more likely it is that he will walk into a management position, irrespective of his qualifications or intellectual prowess.

But, not only that, when they are being ‘tested’ for promotion in most corporations – being married is a BIG plus to put you ahead of your competitors for the position of partner, ceo or cfo – everyone knows this, and works it. Men may have their affairs and flings without impacting the trajectory of their career – if a woman does, its game over.

Even in the rugby and business world – her virtue is demanded – by the very men who entertain themselves at parties, by dabbling in a picnic basket of drugs and hiring sex workers to join them – men who are advocates and beneficiaries of the social division of women’s character between deviant and devout.

It is a cultural industry that most within it benefit from. And like every cultural setting, there are good people, bad people, assholes and perpetrators.

And if something happens?

We believe the law is above all of this. We believe truth will conquer all inside a court room. We fail to remember, every time, that many of the judges hail from this culture.

Except women—(well, most) women know otherwise.

Women have been indoctrinated in the anatomy of kindness – of turning the other cheek – of self-checking, self-blame, of breastfeeding all around her, of understanding that scandal and shame gets you ostracised and if that happens you won’t be able to access a piece of the pie.

And in the meantime…

Men encounter few meaningful consequences for their actions against women in this world, particularly those centred in the world of privilege – so it was the reaction to Rory Best’s conduct that actually took me by surprise.

When counsel for the accused asked the alleged victim what she knew about rugby and its players and their social standing, I knew absolutely nothing had changed.

I also know—#TimesUp

Gormla Hughes is an essayist and you can follow her on Twitter @Paradisefound64

Top pic: AFP

Previously: Shoulder To Shoulder


From top: Nigel Farage and John Waters at the irexit conference in the RDS on Saturday; Dr Rory Hearne

It is incredible how angry supposedly sensible people get when you express a contrarian view point. Or if you even raise questions about supposed ‘truths’ and general ‘commonsense’.

The impossibility of Ireland leaving the EU, or Irexit as it come to be called (or probably more appropriately Eirexit) is apparently one of these accepted ‘truths’.

On Saturday I had the temerity to question this assumption on twitter and got one hell of a reaction.

I posted the simple tweet:

Now to make it clear from the outset, I am not arguing that Ireland should leave the EU, and I am pro-immigration and I actually blame the policies of our own successive Irish governments of various hues of Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael/Labour/Greens/PDs as being the primary cause of our current problems. Although I do think the EU/ECB has had an important role too.

Clearly then I will have nothing to do with the Nigel Farage/John Waters Conference and any potential new Irexit party. They stand for a right-wing, conservative vision of Ireland and Europe that offers nothing positive for Irish people.

However, what I am saying is that there is a ‘progressive’, outward and forward looking critique of the EU that has real legitimacy, and it is this critique that needs to be listened to seriously.

For if it is not addressed, and quickly, then support for Irexit could grow.

I am also, therefore, making the case that some of those expressing support for Irexit have legitimate concerns that represent a not insignificant proportion of the Irish people.

Rather than dismissing these concerns, the Irish and European establishment should take them serious and engage in a radical overhaul of the direction of Ireland, the EU and its institutions.

There is a problem with our democracy, our political culture and this exists in wider Irish society. We are afraid to question and challenge the status quo. And our government and establishment media even more so.

Our ‘state’ not just dislikes questioning and challenge – it is terrified by it. And that’s why it actively silences dissenting voices – through gag orders on charities such as homeless NGOs or community organisations working on poverty.

And the system likes to portray those who question as dissidents or ‘Left-wing’ in order to try undermine your concerns. Rather than maturely engaging in a discussion there is a hysterical over-reaction. And this is reflected in the response to my tweet.

Why is it not possible to be pro-Europe and question fundamentally the current EU structures and process?

I am involved in the cross-European ‘Re-InVEST’ study into the impact of the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent austerity on the most vulnerable in 13 European countries.

The project aims to contribute to a more solidarity and inclusive EU through an inclusive and powerful social investment strategy at EU level and to give voice to vulnerable groups and civil society organisations.

We have found that:

“As a consequence of the recent economic crisis, institutional trust in these countries has fallen to dramatic levels. In particular, in Greece, Cyprus, Portugal and Spain, the effect of the economic crisis on public trust in institutions is especially prominent…respondents with low subjective incomes, low level of education, and those who are unemployed report significantly lower trust in national parliaments and the European Parliament”.

The reality is that in response to the 2008 crisis the EU institutions focused on macro-economic stabilisation rather than social consequences. As a result poverty and inequality have increased, particularly in the peripheral countries and political trust has declined. There has been a rise in the support for populist, anti-establishment, political parties.

But this is not just something that started in 2008. Inequality has been on the rise since the 1980s and the shift to neoliberal financial capitalism.

The EU has played a key role in promoting the free-market, neoliberal globalisation model. Citizens have become much more insecure – particularly in relation to work, pensions, and housing. The future for their children looks much more difficult than they had it.

There is a sense of going backwards, or not going in the right direction. And there is a sense of loss control over major decisions.

Ireland is changing too and Irish people are increasingly experiencing these insecurities. The generation in their 20s and 30s are scarred by emigration and insecure jobs and unaffordable housing.

Poor communities remain excluded across the country. Who represents these excluded groups? The establishment, particularly as represented by Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael, continues to ignore the excluded and is more focused on trying to stem the tide of change – as Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohue said after the last election –“ That is why it is more important than ever that the centre of Irish politics holds” he wrote in the Irish Times in April 2017.

There is a real danger that if these concerns are not given a political expression then the support for a right-wing xenophobic Irexit could grow.

That is why progressive, civil society, and ‘Left’ critiques of the EU and the unequal Irish model should be given a much bigger voice in the Irish media, and it is why the political left in Ireland need to maintain a strong critical voice in relation to EU – arguing for a Europe of social justice and human rights and opposing the current free-market corporate-dominated EU.

Dr Rory Hearne is a policy analyst, academic, social justice campaigner. He writes here in a personal capacity. Follow Rory on Twitter: @roryhearne

Rollingnews

 

 

Cllr Shaun Cunniffe at the little used public toilet in Tuam. Photo: Johnny Ryan Photography.

Tuam’s superloo – dubbed the town’s cut-price love nest because it’s used by canoodling couples – could be an early St Valentine’s day present for Oranmore. County Councillor Donagh Killilea (FF) has proposed that Tuam Municipal District gift the public toilet at The Shambles car park in Tuam to the Oranmore/Athenry Municipal District.

Superloo ‘love nest’ could be gifted to Oranmore (Connacht Tribune)

(H/T: Frank Yoka)

(Photo: Johnny Ryan Photography)