Gama scandal - Buck-passing claim against Harney sticks

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

Despite her strenuous denials of allegations that she did nothing as Minister for Enterprise to investigate complaints against Turkish company Gama Construction, serious questions remain to be answered about the Government’s failure to crack down on their unjust treatment of workers.

Judging by the tenor of her reply to Dáil questions yesterday, Ms Harney, who is now Health Minister, clearly finds herself under pressure and rightly so.

Though she stresses that officials who investigated the company on at least two occasions found nothing untoward, the key question, in light of what is now known, is whether they looked hard enough.

Another pertinent question to be answered is whether, as the politician responsible for employment, Ms Harney looked deeply enough into claims that the workers were being exploited.

While she distances herself personally from the decision to invite Gama to Ireland, Ms Harney led Government trade missions to Turkey, where she met officials from several companies, including Gama.

With the benefit of hindsight, she now labels Gama’s treatment of its migrant workers as “a disgrace”. Yet, the fact remains that Ms Harney and her officials gave the company a clean bill of health. This despite complaints from an Irish construction group that it was in danger of going out of business because it was being undercut by the low wages paid by the Turkish outfit.

After the work permit section of the department had concluded that the allegations were “without substance”, Gama continued to work on major State contracts on which hundreds of migrant workers from Turkey were employed.

Effectively copperfastening its stamp of approval, the department claimed further allegations were rooted in an inter-union row. Making it clear that if evidence of breaches of the law were provided they would be investigated, the department emphasised that unspecified and sweeping allegations did not provide sufficient grounds for action.

Thanks, however, to the tireless campaign of Socialist TD Joe Higgins, who championed the workers’ cause from the outset, and due also to the persistent questioning of the Government by Labour’s Pat Rabbitte, it looks as if they will finally be paid what they are owed.

Millions of euro are already being recouped from secret bank accounts opened by Gama in Holland under the names of workers and allegedly without their knowledge.

Notwithstanding the PD leader’s rejection of claims that she is now blaming department officials for the failure to expose the low-wage scandal, the allegation of buck-passing will stick, whether she likes it or not.

There is growing anticipation among workers, politicians and the public alike, that answers to the many questions still hanging over this controversy will be revealed when the findings of a labour inspector’s report, ordered by Employment Minister Micheál Martin, are finally published. Up to now, publication has been held up by a gagging injunction secured by Gama in the High Court.

As soon as the promised statement of its affairs has been issued by Finansbank, Holland, the way will be clear for the workers to instruct the bank as to what to do with the millions of euro being held in their name.

In the final analysis, it has to be asked why so many Irish companies stood idly by when they saw Turkish employees being paid such low wages and working such long hours - a regime no Irish worker would tolerate.