Minister for Finance Brian Cowen is to make inquiries into the alleged €2.5 million defrauding of the Revenue Commissioners by a construction company, described in the Dáil yesterday as a "cowboy operation".
Former Labour leader Ruairí Quinn made the allegation against PSK Construction, which went into liquidation owing the Revenue €2.5 million and employees more than €300,000.
Mr Quinn, a former finance minister, said Mr Cowen "is being defrauded of money". He added: "I thought we had got rid of this kind of cowboy operation where the same company could transfer from one name to another. I am referring to the PSK Construction company defraud as reported in yesterday's newspapers."
The Labour TD said it was necessary for the Minister to "move rather urgently". He said Mr Cowen as Minister for Finance "is the main creditor" of the construction company which went into liquidation in March.
He called on the Minister "to deal with a situation where a company can go into liquidation on one day and continue working the following day with the same workers".
The Minister said that "specific matters will be dealt with on the basis of the emerging facts" and that he would "make inquiries as to the present situation regarding the specific matter raised by Deputy Quinn".
Mr Quinn's call follows that of Siptu, which on Wednesday asked the Government to investigate PSK Construction's collapse. The company went into voluntary liquidation in March, but Siptu claimed its employees and contracts on major projects were immediately transferred to a different company set up by the same people to carry out the same work.
PSK Construction, based in Naas, Co Kildare, had contracts to work on major projects in Dublin. In February it was wound up after it lost a High Court application to stop the Revenue taking what the company said were "draconian" measures against it.
