Workers must not bear the cost of faster, cheaper project delivery
Sir, – In support of David McWilliams’s suggestion for the Irish Government to consider engaging with Chinese companies to assist building our railways noted that some of our motorways have been built by Spanish and Turkish companies.
He acknowledged there “were some problems in complying with Irish standards, but nothing that was not overcome”. Compliance with employment standards has been at times very problematic and not always easily overcome. The long-running wages dispute involving workers and the Turkish GAMA construction company from 2005 received much publicity. In another case, 180 workers employed by a consortium of Portuguese companies to build the Limerick-Nenagh motorway between 2007 and 2009 were subsequently found by the labour inspectorate to have been underpaid by €3 million. The workers and their solicitor spent 13 years seeking to recoup the underpayments through the Irish legal system. The High Court in 2016 concluded that the companies had “engaged in the systematic and deliberate” under-recording of the workers hours and that the workers’ accommodation provided by the companies was “of a deplorable – perhaps, even, a dangerous standard”.Electromagnetic Picnic – Frank McNally on a weekend of music, madness, and MRIsHow apt that Democratic convention marks the passing of the last old-style Irish Catholic politician The workers’ legal quest took so long because, as noted by the Court of Appeal in 2019, the companies had “abused the courts process” and their “conduct had been designed to delay and frustrate the payment of any sums”. Regardless of the origin of a company engaging in public works, the credibility of their tender bid must be interrogated, and robust systems should be in place to ensure workers do not bear the cost of faster, cheaper project delivery. – Yours, etc,New Zealand’s Keely O’Grady wins Rose of Tralee 2024: ‘I can’t really put it into words. I’m shaking so much’ Woman dragged into park and told she would be killed during early morning sex attack in Dublin, court hearsFire crews battle south Dublin fire overnightNew Zealand’s Keely O’Grady wins Rose of Tralee 2024: ‘I can’t really put it into words. I’m shaking so much’ Patrick Freyne: I ooh as one Rose plays the spoons, aah as another risks ripping a hole in the space-time continuum
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