Kenny: Tax cuts for self-employed 'will take a number of years'

The Taoiseach has said giving tax cuts to the self-employed will take a number of years to implement.

Enda Kenny told a business conference this morning that the tax regime for self-employed workers is "discriminatory" and cannot be justified any longer.

Speaking to reporters, he insisted the announcement of tax cuts was not an admission that hiking up the Universal Social Charge for the self-employed in the last budget was a mistake.

"It's a recognition that a situation that has applied for self-employed (people) for many years is not one that we can tolerate for the future," he said.

"We can’t sort it out immediately - it will take a number of years to do it, but clearly we need to attend to that. And we will."