South Dublin County Council has appointed a legal representative in Ankara and will send a council representative if requested by the Turkish Labour Court as part of the case between Gama Industries and Gama workers.
The announcement that a legal representative was appointed in mid-May follows a statement last week by the council that "appropriate action" had been taken following an investigation into allegations that a council staff member had attended a Turkish court on behalf of Gama industries without council permission.
To date, neither the council nor its legal representative in Turkey has received any requests for information from the Turkish court, according to a statement issued by the council yesterday.
The decision to appoint a representative and to make council officials available to the courts follows the conclusion of an investigation by the council in May after it was alleged that a council employee, Paul Carpenter, had supported Gama's claims that workers had not consistently worked long hours.
Last year, the company was accused of exploiting its Turkish employees by paying less than the minimum wage and lodging workers' wages in Dutch bank accounts.
In transcripts from the Turkish court seen by The Irish Times, Mr Carpenter told the court that prior to the intervention of Deputy Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party there had been no problems on the Balgaddy site.
Last night Mr Higgins described as "extremely urgent" the need to address the facts of the Gama practices in the Turkish courts and to "undo the damage already done".