THE spectacle of controversial Turkish firm Gama continuing to enjoy the largesse of the Irish Government through lucrative contracts is perplexing.

CONTROVERSIAL construction firm Gama is facing a class action lawsuit in Turkey as more than 80 former workers prepare to sue for being underpaid while working in Ireland.

CONTROVERSIAL Turkish construction firm Gama, saw its losses in Ireland swell to more than €15 million in 2004.

THERE is a whiff of double-standards emerging in the case of the 550 workers in Irish Ferries whose jobs are to be axed.

YOUR editorial (Irish Examiner, August 17) is critical of the National Roads Authority (NRA) against the background of the pending award of the contract for the Castleblayney bypass.

THE Government has been urged to place a temporary block on awarding contracts to construction firm Gama until all investigations into the company have been completed.

A sceptical public could be forgiven for asking why a construction group investigated by the State over worker exploitation is about to be awarded a €50 million contract by the National Roads Authority (NRA).

Gama, the Turkish firm at the centre of a scandal over underpayments of overtime, has agreed to pay remaining construction workers compensation, it emerged today.

IRELAND’S shameful exploitation of foreign workers, many of them forced to work much longer hours for far less pay than their Irish counterparts, is finally to end following an Irish Examiner exposé of this ugly form of bonded slavery.

IT was February 8. Reading back over it, you would swear it was way back in the distant past, something about Russian serfs towards the end of the 19th century.

TURKISH workers at Gama are on the brink of securing an historic payout after two months of ceaseless protests over wage fraud and underpayment.

CONOR LENIHAN’s remark in the Dáil that “Deputy Higgins should stick with the kebabs” was intended as a jibe at Joe Higgins, not at Turkish workers.

Turkish workers at Gama construction will be paid €8,000 euro for every year of service over alleged underpayments of overtime, it emerged tonight.

INTERNATIONAL accountancy firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC) last night refused to comment on how it failed for several years to detect breaches of employment law at Gama Construction.

THE Turkish Government last night remained silent as dozens of its citizens prepared to go on hunger strike in the Gama migrant labour scandal.

MULTI-NATIONAL construction firm Gama yesterday refused to begin conciliation talks at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) as hundreds of workers continue to protest over allegations of wage fraud and underpayment.

WORKERS at Gama have voted overwhelmingly in favour of official strike action following a month-long series of unofficial stoppages.

CONSTRUCTION firm Gama is facing further criticism for its role in a controversial dam project which has displaced more than 200,000 Kurds in South East Turkey.

STATE money owed to construction firm Gama should be used to pay workers’ outstanding overtime, Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins told the Dáil yesterday.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern will today be challenged to do more to protect hundreds of protesting Gama workers being threatened with eviction from company accommodation.

Unions authority ICTU today called on the Government to come to the aid of 350 Gama workers who claim they have been denied pay, food and accommodation by their bosses.

A REPORT into allegations that construction firm Gama underpaid hundreds of migrant workers is to be forwarded to the Garda Fraud Squad and the Revenue Commissioners.

The Turkish construction firm Gama was today granted a temporary injunction to prevent the publication of a Labour Inspectorate report into the treatment of its workers.

THE Turkish company accused of wage fraud and underpaying workers admitted to Government inspectors in February that it was not recording how many hours its employees work.

HUNDREDS of Turkish workers will protest outside the High Court this morning to call for the publication of a labour inspectors’ report into alleged exploitation of employees by construction company Gama.

WE have seen the gaping schism of Irish society. Tánaiste Mary Harney stands up and says that, yes, the treatment of the Gama workers was a disgrace but it had nothing to do with me, gov.

TÁNAISTE Mary Harney does not come well out of the controversy surrounding the scandalous underpayment of Turkish workers in Ireland.

CONCERN was expressed last night after it emerged that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment had failed to spend €58.4 million of its 2003 budgetary allocation despite there being “unemployment blackspots” throughout the country.

TÁNAISTE Mary Harney was yesterday accused of failing to protect migrant workers at Turkish construction giant Gama despite complaints against the firm during her time as Enterprise Minister.

ALMOST 700 Gama workers have received an unexpected windfall of up to €20 million in lost wages from bank accounts in the Netherlands.

Construction company Gama Endustri has slammed allegations that it has paid its Turkish workers €2 to €3 per hour, that employees have worked excessive hours or that there are any unpaid wages.

Enterprise Minister Micheal Martin has told the Seanad that he will be giving a report on the treatment of Turkish workers by the Gama construction firm to the Gardaí and the Revenue Commissioners.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern yesterday pledged to do everything in the Government’s power to help Gama workers retrieve lost wages held in Dutch accounts.

THE Government’s labour inspectorate needs more than 50 new inspectors to adequately tackle labour abuses, SIPTU president Jack O’Connor said yesterday.

HUNDREDS of Turkish construction workers with multinational firm Gama will today protest outside the Dáil as the dispute over underpayments by the company enters its second week.

GAMA employees yesterday demanded that the Government take up the issue of previously unknown Dutch bank accounts in workers’ names with the Dutch Government and Central Bank.

The troubled Gama construction firm tonight agreed to hand over foreign bank account details as part of a probe into alleged underpayment of hundreds of its Turkish workers.

A showdown meeting is planned tomorrow between bosses at the Gama construction firm and its Turkish workers and SIPTU officials.

HUNDREDS of Gama employees from Dublin and Clare yesterday stepped up protests against the company by demonstrating outside the firm’s largest construction project in Galway.

Gama’s treatment of workers has backfired, Political Reporter Michael O’Farrell writes from Galway.

THE multinational construction firm accused of stealing millions in workers’ wages is to repatriate 140 Turkish employees, despite Government assurances no worker would be sent home.

HUNDREDS of angry Gama workers are today planning to target the company’s largest construction project, a Galway power station being built for the ESB in Tynagh.

HUNDREDS of angry Gama workers are today planning to target the company’s largest construction project, a Galway power station being built for the ESB in Tynagh.

HUNDREDS of Gama workers will today stop work and march in protest against the company following revelations that millions in lost wages is being held in previously unknown Dutch bank accounts.