The Government said yesterday it will introduce new measures to target bogus self-employment later this year with the establishment of joint investigative units to examine suspected non-compliance with labour laws.
The move comes amid deepening concern among trade unions over employers who are suspected of facilitating bogus self-employment to recruit workers not entitled to work here.
At present certain EU nationals such as Romanians are free to travel to Ireland but may not work unless they are self-employed or hold a valid work permit.
New figures released by the Department of Social and Family Affairs show that 5,291 Romanians received Personal Public Service (PPS) numbers during January and February. However, just 18 work permits have been issued to Romanian nationals during this time, seven of which were renewals of existing permits.
Union leaders have claimed that many employers will seek to recruit new arrivals by arranging for them to be hired as self-employed workers. This practice is believed to be particularly common in the construction industry. The Government said new legislation will enable the Labour Inspectorate to join with the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the Revenue Commissioners to work together in new joint investigation units.
A spokeswoman for Minister for Enterprise and Employment Micheál Martin said these units will focus on a number of areas, including the employment status of individuals.
In addition, the Revenue Commissioners, as part of its recently launched construction industry project, will be reviewing the tax status of contractors. It will also focus on whether individuals, currently designated as self-employed, should be regarded as employees.
There are signs, meanwhile, that the number of Romanians arriving is beginning to decrease. Just over 3,000 arrived in January, while this fell to 2,000 in February. Religious leaders in the Romanian community said there is widespread confusion about the work restrictions in various EU countries.
Fr Calin Florea of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Dublin said many of those who arrived here were beginning to return home after learning about the work permit requirements.
"As a priest I have been called by phone many times by Romanian people living in Spain, Portugal, Belgium, who asked me to describe the life here. Some of them didn't even hear about Government restrictions," Fr Florea said.
"I have discouraged them, telling them about the work permit requirements and the fact that the prices are very high and the labour market situation is difficult.
"Other people who have been here for a few weeks now understand the difficulty of working here and have returned to Romania."