The Gama construction company failed to give a frank account of breaches of employment legislation and of its dealings with its workers, counsel for the Minister for Enterprise and Employment told the High Court yesterday.
Maurice Collins SC, for the Minister, also argued that deliberate confusion had been created over whether Gama "Ireland" or Gama "Turkey" employed the workers.
There had not been "a whisper" in the companies' affidavits about accounts held in the names of workers in a Dutch bank, he added.
Mr Collins was continuing submissions before Mr Justice Peter Kelly opposing applications by Gama Endustri Tesisleri Imalat Montaj AS and Gama Construction Ireland Ltd for an interlocutory injunction to prohibit publication of a department investigator's report into Gama's treatment of its Turkish workers here.
The injunction, if granted, would continue until the hearing of judicial review proceedings brought against the Minister and the head of the department's labour inspectorate, Edward Nolan. Both Gama companies contest the Minister's entitlement to direct an investigation.
Yesterday Mr Collins said the Minister could have asked anybody, including Mr Nolan, to conduct an inquiry into the (Gama) matter raised in the Dáil by Socialist Party TD Jim Higgins.
Unless records were kept by a company, it was impossible to verify the requirements of employment legislation, counsel said. This was "a significant difficulty" in this case because there was an admitted failure, it would seem, on the part of Gama Construction Ireland to keep records as required by law.
Mr Justice Kelly said the question was whether the department's inspector could conduct an inquiry for a purpose other than the enforcement of legislation, whether an inquiry could be for the purpose of preparing a report for the Minister which was then going to be made public. He asked if that was not the nub of the issue before the court.
Mr Collins said the purpose of the Minister asking for the report was to see whether the legislation had been complied with. Mr Nolan's inquiry was directed to see whether Gama - and he was using that name advisedly because there was such confusion between the two Gama applicants - was complying with its obligations under the Organisation of Working Time Act, the Payment of Wages Act and the National Minimum Wage Act.
Counsel for Gama Construction Ireland, Mr Collins submitted, had sought to distinguish between an investigation that might result in a criminal prosecution or a civil action and an investigation that was intended to result in the publication of a report.
He said there was no principle of law he was aware of which said that an officer of the Minister having conducted a lawful inquiry directed by the Minister could not communicate back to the Minister the result of the inquiry. He also questioned whether there was a legal provision preventing publication of the report.
Reviewing correspondence between the parties, Mr Collins said the managing director of Gama Construction Ireland had offered full co-operation to the inspector on February 9th last if Mr Nolan wished to meet "our employees".