Irish least likely to work black market — but would rather not talk about it
The survey concludes we have also become among the most honest and law- abiding in the EU, with more of us being horrified when fellow travellers do not pay for their train or bus ticket, and being very much against people receiving dole they are not entitled to.
However, we were very shy about answering such questions and more than in any other EU country (11%) simply refused to say if they were working in the black economy or employed others in this way.
The survey — the first of its kind carried out in the EU — was commissioned with a view to combating undeclared labour, which amounts to a huge proportion of GDP in many eastern European countries.
Most of Ireland’s black market economy involves home-help, those looking after children and the elderly, followed by the construction industry.
And as in most other EU countries, the wealthiest professionals and the self-employed are the most likely to employ people to do domestic or office jobs on the black market.
About 7% of Irish said they had paid for services (fifth-lowest in EU), 2% said they had paid for goods (second-lowest), while the total for both was 8% (fifth-lowest in the EU where the average was 11%).
About 3% of employees admitted to receiving untaxed, under-the-counter money in addition to their wages. The EU average was 5%.
Employment Commissioner Vladimír Špidla said: “The hidden economy undermines the financing of social security systems, hampers good economic policies and can lead to social dumping.”
Some of the ways of combating the black economy included lowering income tax and social welfare contributions and introducing a minimum wage — all measures that have been taken by Ireland over the last few years and may account for the low levels of undeclared work.
Mr Spidla said that by 2009 there should be a system for declaring and verifying cross-border social insurance.
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