An independent agency may be established to regulate labour laws, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin has said.
Mr Martin was speaking after it was revealed yesterday that 66 Polish workers at the ESB's Moneypoint power station were paid at less than a third of their minimum legal wage.
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheal Martin
As fitters/welders, they were entitled to a minimum wage of €18.97 an hour under the construction industry's registered employment agreement.
But the workers, employed on a €350 million refurbishment of the power plant, were paid just €5.20 an hour.
The German-owned contractor responsible for their employment, Lentjes, today said it had taken steps to rectify the situation. It was announced yesterday that the labour inspectorate at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment will undertake an investigation into the claims.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio, Mr Martin called the case "one too many" and said that the social partnership talks were now discussing ways to ensure that companies comply with labour legislation.
"From my point of view it's unacceptable that any company can still think that they can do this sort of thing in Ireland, irrespective of what has happened subsequently," he said. "It is a breach of the law, it's a breach of Irish labour law, and the labour inspectorate will be investigating the full situation."
He called for the workers to be fully recompensed and said he was particularly upset that the ESB, who it appears knew about the situation in January, did not report it to any relevant authorities.
"I'm disappointed," he said. "State agencies and local authorities should inform the labour inspectorate so that they become aware of any breach of Irish labour law."
Mr Martin denied that his department's labour inspectorate should have uncovered the problem, adding that labour inspectors continued to make surprise visits to companies suspected of malpractice.
Officials from the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union are to meet the workers' Polish-owned direct employer, ZRE Katowice (Ireland) Construction, tomorrow.