The Government intends to ensure that Gama Construction workers receive their full rights and that the company meets its obligations, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Dáil.
"We are in direct contact in regard to securing the papers, and believe we will receive full co-operation in this regard," said Mr Ahern. "The estimates of the departmental inspectors indicate the monies involved may be even greater than the figures mentioned by the deputy (Joe Higgins)."
Mr Ahern said the Government's objective was to ensure all Gama workers, both Turkish and Irish, were given their full entitlements, and that their terms and conditions of employment were according to the law and fully implemented.
There were other issues to consider such as repatriation, he added. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment had met representatives of Ictu, Siptu and the CIF earlier in the day, and intended meeting Gama delegates this week or early next week to discuss implementation of the recommendations of the inspector's report.
Joe Higgins, Socialist Party TD for Dublin West, insisted it was not good enough for the Government to pledge it would deal with the matter "as soon as possible".
The men in question were destitute, he added.
"They got paid a maximum of €250 in cash four weeks ago, and they have to be given the bus fare to come into town. That is how desperate they are. This is an incredible scandal by any stretch of the imagination."
He said executives of Finansbank Holland should come to Dublin with all the information so workers could have access to it. Alternatively, each worker could sign a statement, which he or another representative of the workers could take to the Netherlands on Friday.
"Incredibly, some contract workers with Gama Construction were not the beneficiaries of Finansbank Holland," he added. "They worked an 84-hour week for €800 per month. There is nothing provided for them."
Mr Ahern said the Government's legal view was that the accounts belonged to the workers, and, therefore, there was no way the banking authorities could withhold them.
"I cannot guarantee that the bank will make the accounts available. However, they are the accounts of the workers, and the same criteria apply to them as to anyone else's account," said Mr Ahern.
Earlier, Mr Higgins asked: "How could such a vile machine of shocking exploitation be transferred intact from the Middle East by Gama to Irish sites, and how could the company get away with this exploitation for 4½ years?"
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said that far from introducing competition into the domestic market, Gama Construction was disgracefully undercutting Irish and EU employers and workers, and siphoning off the greater part of the workers' wages to Finansbank.
What the workers needed by the weekend was a clear statement from the bank of their entitlements. The Taoiseach, he said, should instruct the Irish Ambassador to take whatever measures were necessary, in co-operation with his opposite number in the Netherlands, to secure the minimal entitlement of the workers.
