Executive Summary
The growth in the professional contractor sector is a worldwide phenomenon and more and more people have chosen to provide their services as independent professionals.
The Professional Contracting Sector, and Interim Management sector as it is referred to in Ireland, the Freelancer sector as it is referred to in the UK, Independent Contractors as used in USA, Canada & Australia and iPros throughout Europe are the subject of many reports at present.
The professional contracting sector which provided an important role in supporting and attracting MNC’s and Indigenous Irish companies is suffering from a lack of clarity at present.
In this report we are focusing on these contributors to the Knowledge Based Economy, the professionals, in IT, Engineering, Life Sciences, Interim Management and Professional Consultancy Services sectors whose use of professionals is often project driven, as well as Medical, Health and Aviation. For the sake of clarity we are going to draw on the European term and refer to these Independent Professionals as iPros throughout this report.
Those are the sectors where the greatest need is for knowledge based professionals to support the Knowledge Based Economy that Ireland strives for. Our taxation, “The Knowledge Box “initiative and our stated policy to develop a Knowledge Based Economy will be dependent on our ability to provide knowledge based professionals as and when required to support these industries.
For this very reason it is essential now that the lack of clarity and its consequent effect on this sector are tackled as a matter of urgency.
This report sets out proposals on how this can be undertaken.
