The multinational construction firm under investigation for alleged mistreatment of migrant workers on Irish sites tonight said some of its staff who have refused to participate in protests this week have been subject to intimidation.
Representatives of Turkish-owned, Gama Construction met with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment Micheál Martin this afternoon after he revealed he had received further complaints over the treatment of workers at the company.
A statement from the Department said the Minister was anxious "to receive confirmation that all Gama workers continue to receive their legal entitlements".
The company issued a statement this evening saying they had met the Minister and "responded fully to the Department's enquiries".
Gama has been at the centre of controversy since February when Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins made allegations in the Dáil about its treatment of its largely Turkish workforce in Ireland on short-term work permits.
He accused the company of " exploitation of massive proportions", saying it demanded "grotesque" working hours, paid unskilled staff €2-€3 an hour and housed workers in "company barracks".
The allegations were denied by Gama.
Mr Higgins led a second day of protests today involving around 350 workers - some of whom headed from Liberty Hall in Dublin to the Tynagh Energy power plant in Co Galway where the Socialist TD claims seven workers were thrown out of their portable accommodation.
"Some of these 350 workers were afraid to show their faces last week. Now they're organising themselves in huge numbers to show solidarity with each other against fraud and intimidation by their employers," Mr Higgins said.
The company strenuously denied the claim this evening: "The only such cases Gama is aware of is intimidation of Gama employees who continued to work and declined to participate in the protest."
Gama also confirmed that 140 workers were being repatriated because a major contract Dublin contract had not come to fruition.
"The company is therefore required, under the terms of its work permits, to repatriate these employees to Turkey," the statement said.
Last week four former employees at the company discovered that they had bank accounts in their names in Holland which they were unaware of.
The company said today that it was issuing a letter to each employee confirming they had access to the money and explaining how they could retrieve the funds.
Additional reporting by PA