The Tánaiste has strongly denied allegations that she did nothing to investigate complaints against Turkish company Gama Construction while she was Minister for Enterprise.
Mary Harney told the Dáil that officials investigated the company on at least two occasions, but found nothing untoward. She denied she had personally invited Gama to Ireland, and she labelled its treatment of workers ‘a disgrace’.
Ms Harney was answering questions from Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins and Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte.
Deputy Rabbitte claimed it was ‘extraordinary’ that officials investigated the company, yet gave it a clean bill of health.
This afternoon, a report on one of these investigations was published by the Tánaiste. It was carried out in October 2003 by the Work Permits Section of the Department of Enterprise, after a complaint from a trade union.
The official concluded that the allegations were unsupported by evidence and were not sufficient to justify an investigation, and that the complaint arose because of an inter-union dispute.
The report also refers to a previous complaint from an Irish construction company about pay levels. The report also found ‘no substance’ to the allegations.
Meanwhile, the Secretary General at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Sean Gorman, has told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that early inquiries into Gama in the past came out positive.
He said he could not comment on the findings of the report of the labour inspectorate due to the court injunction preventing its publication.
There will be a court hearing on this on Monday morning, which will either lift the injunction, or initiate a full judicial review, Mr Gorman said.
On the issue of work permits he said an IT system, between the gardaí, Social Welfare and other Government Departments, is being set up to monitor closely how the permits are issued.
