Self-employed people need to be treated equally, according to East Galway TD Seán Canney who recently heard how issues such as insurance, rates and increased paperwork are making self-employment more difficult with each passing year.
Deputy Canney met with a group of selfemployed people in Tuam last week to discuss the issues affecting self employed people. ‘A number of major issues were highlighted on the night. They include the excessive cost of insurance, the penal cost of rates, the lack of support for self-employed people when they are sick and cannot earn a living and the ever-increasing paperwork load attached to the operation of a business.
‘One in every six Irish workers earns a self-employed income. Self-employed people are the backbone of our economy and have suffered greatly as a result of the last ten years of austerity. In order to help small businesses to survive, we have to tackle these issues.
‘I will be preparing a submission for government based on the issues raised. The Programme for Government has recognised the importance of the self-employed and we need to continue to implement the measures contained in the Programme for Government to ease the burden on self-employed people.’