High Court to deliver ruling on publication of Gama report

THE High Court will today deliver its ruling on whether a Government Labour Inspectorate report into allegations of massive wage fraud and underpayment at Turkish construction firm Gama can be published.

Gama was first accused of paying workers as little as €2 an hour and forcing them to work an 84-hour week in an extraordinary series of Dáil allegations in February by Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins.

However, a Labour Inspectorate report into the claims, has been the subject of an injunction preventing publication ever since Gama sought a judicial review into the labour inspectorate findings.

As first revealed by the Irish Examiner, the report fails to clear Gama of serious Dáil allegations made by Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins and instead recommends that numerous authorities, from the Garda fraud squad to the Director of Corporate Enforcement, carry out further investigations.

A partial lifting of the original injunction has already allowed those authorities along with the Revenue, the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the Director of Public Prosecutions to receive the report and commence their own investigations.

As those probes continue, more than 300 Gama workers who engaged in an unprecedented series of strike actions lasting almost eight weeks, have mostly returned to Turkey.

Having received substantial windfalls from previously unknown wages held by Gama in Dutch bank accounts, a Labour Court settlement last month also saw protesters receive an average pay-out of €13,000.

If the Gama report is cleared for publication today, it is expected the Department of Enterprise will seek legal advice before publishing it or referring it to an Oireachtas Committee. The Department is also anxious to proceed with prosecutions against Gama for breaches of labour law.

However, it is expected that, regardless of today's decision, either side may seek a Supreme Court appeal further delaying publication for many months to come.