THE SUPREME Court has begun hearing an appeal against a court ruling quashing a ministerial inspector’s report of an inquiry into the underpayment and mistreatment of Turkish construction workers more than four years ago.
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment has appealed a High Court decision that the Minister was not entitled to publish a report by an inspector who carried out an inquiry into allegations against Gama Construction and its Turkey-registered subsidiary which conducted major infrastructural works here.
The inquiry arose after the then Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins claimed before the Dáil in 2005 Gama was in breach of Irish labour law by underpaying and mistreating workers from Turkey. He alleged a failure to provide pay slips and inappropriate deductions from wages. The Minister ordered the matter be investigated by one of his inspectors and a report was completed in May 2005.
Gama Construction Ireland Ltd and Gama Endustrie Tesisleri Imalat AS took a successful legal challenge preventing publication.
In the High Court in 2005, Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan ruled the inspector had no statutory power to prepare “for publication” a report of an investigation conducted under the relevant employment Acts. She made orders restraining publication and quashing the report to prevent it being furnished to the Minister.
Opening the appeal against that judgment, Nuala Butler SC, for the Minister, argued the Minister has the power to publish the report, unless expressly prohibited by statute, and the inspector had a consequent statutory power to do so.
The Minister has brought the appeal on 46 grounds, including that the High Court erred by failing to have regard to the right to freedom of expression.