Madam, – I refer to Tom Farrell’s (October 1st) comments that published unemployment figures are not a true reflection of the number of unemployed.
Added to these number of unemployed should be the thousands of self-employed people who started and ran their own businesses (without a penny from the State) and who have now gone bust or closed down. Self-employed people are entitled to nothing when they find themselves out of work and are told the reason for this is because they paid no personal PRSI. No mention is made of the employers’ PRSI they pay for each employee and large amounts of VAT and tax they collect for the State during the lifespan of the business.
If every self-employed or small/medium/large/business withheld this revenue today we would have an even bigger economic problem on our hands. – Yours, etc,