Ahern pledges to help Gama workers retrieve lost wages
Although a Government report into allegations of wage fraud at the company is the subject of an injunction sought by Gama, Mr Ahern said the scandal would be investigated by the Revenue Commissioners, the gardaí and other regulatory bodies.
Responding to demands from Labour leader Pat Rabbitte and TD Joe Higgins during Leader’s Questions yesterday, Mr Ahern said the Government would act as soon as possible to ensure the previously unknown accounts in Dutch- based Finansbank were made available to workers.
“We will do everything that we can to make sure that the rights are fulfilled, that the money is secured and that we see this issue through,” he said.
However, Mr Higgins said the Government should be ashamed of how such exploitation could take place.
“This State is deeply shamed that men who came here to support their families, fathers who left their spouses and young children, brothers and sons, should be most cruelly abused, exploited and duped in the course of the construction of the Celtic Tiger infrastructure.
“How could such a vile machine of shocking exploitation be transported intact from the Middle East by Gama to Irish sites and how could they get away with it for four and a half years?” he said.
Mr Higgins also revealed that, despite the controversy, Gama have still not provided workers with adequate pay slips.
As hundreds of Gama workers gathered outside the Dáil for a ninth day of unprecedented protest, Mr Rabbitte also attacked Tánaiste Mary Harney who first introduced Gama to Ireland in 2000.
“The Tánaiste sat on top of this mess for three years preaching competition... It turns out that far from introducing competition into the domestic market that they were disgracefully undercutting Irish and EU employers and workers and siphoning off millions,” he said.
