Revealed: how building bosses cheat their workers

OVER €35 million is being pocketed every year by thousands of construction firms that are cheating 50,000 employees of mandatory pension entitlements.

An Irish Examiner investigation has found that evasion in the industry is so extensive that it affects some of the largest infrastructural projects in the State. Government and local authority projects, including a housing project for South Dublin County Council, are also failing to provide pension rights to some workers.

Under pensions regulations, the country's 4,500 construction companies must register all general operatives in the Construction Federation Operatives Pension Scheme (CFOPS).