Scandal-hit Gama shortlisted for roads projects

THE multinational construction firm accused of stealing millions from workers through underpayments is shortlisted to build two major roads projects for the National Roads Authority (NRA).

Turkish firm Gama is one of five construction firms being considered to design and build the N2 Monaghan bypass and the N11 Gorey bypass, the NRA has confirmed.

However, as Gama considers the contents of a Government report into allegations of worker abuse made by Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins in the Dáil, the company's entire future in Ireland may be in jeopardy.

Mr Higgins, who in February accused Gama of paying as little as €2 an hour, told the Dáil on Wednesday the firm was engaged in "criminal exploitation in the extreme".

"What in fact we have is a master fraud by a major entity in the construction scene in this country, a grand larceny of worker's wages amounting to millions of euro each month stolen from the workers and tens of millions over the last year alone."

A work permit ban placed on Gama after it admitted underpaying hundreds of Turkish workers by 8% will make it virtually impossible for the company to operate here unless it is lifted.

And given the result of the Government's investigation, Gama's intention to use Ireland as a launching pad for Europe and the US is also in jeopardy.

As revealed in the Irish Examiner on Monday, the Labour Inspectorate report backs up many of the allegations being levelled against Gama and recommends that Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin sanction further investigations by the Director of Corporate Enforcement and possibly the Revenue Commissioners.

Such a scenario makes lifting Gama's work permit ban unlikely in the short term and Department of Enterprise officials are behind the scenes turning their attention to what would happen if Gama left Ireland or were forced off their current jobs.

The firm, which first came to Ireland in 2000 at the behest of Tánaiste Mary Harney, employs up to 10,000 in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. In Ireland more than 1,000 are employed, up to 800 of them Turkish migrants.

Although exhaustive details of Gama's Irish work are currently not available, the company has successfully tendered for numerous State projects including the €119m Ennis bypass and €90m Ballincollig bypass a job it finished six months ahead of schedule having underbid all competitors by millions.

Gama declined to comment last night while a spokeswoman for PWC said the firm would never comment on any matter to do with any of its clients.