A group of workers who were paid less than the minimum wage and housed in “deplorable” conditions on a multi-million-euro road project have won their right to damages from the companies that employed them.

A High Court judge has ruled 27 Portugese workers who worked here on a road project are entitled to recover damages, estimated at €1.5m, plus interest, over breach of their employment contracts with three Portugese companies that traded here as the RAC Eire partnership.