I understand that this is a tough one, but you have to look at the overall business and try to determine if it is a successful one which your "boss" wants to continue with.
If the business overall is turning a healthy profit, then his threats may be just that, threats. If the profit is sufficient, he won't want to close the Irish operation. I would suggest that if he has kept 10 people employed through the last 3yrs, then it is a business he wants to keep going.
I would recommend that you - as a group - stand up to your boss and threaten to go to NERA. However, I would recommend that you look deeper in to how your salaries etc are being handled, especially payments his company should be making to the Revenue, as it is possible that he is "avoiding" some of this in the manner he has chosen to work.