It's all about the money

The news that Gama Construction is in pole position to be awarded another huge public building contract surely poses a test for all of us. The company whose name is known all over the country for all the wrong reasons is the lowest bidder for the new Castleblaney bypass, and the question is: does Gama really deserve to be given another €50 million of public money?

When the bidding process closed for the 16 kilometre bypass, Gama had put in a bid of €49.8 million for the job. Another construction company, Jons, said it could do the job slightly cheaper, for €49.2 million. Two others put the figure at €58 and €59 million. But Gama had an edge when they said they could do the job in 635 days: the nearest bidder, Jons, said it would take them 915 days to do the job.

On a construction project like this, the contractor is paid €7,000 per day for every day they are on site. The shorter time Gama said they would be on site meant that their final bid came in at nearly €1.5 million cheaper than Jons, putting them in the lead in the tendering process. Now Monaghan County Council are to decide in the next month whether or not Gama are to get yet another lucrative public contract and it seems that the public outcry over the way they have treated their workers is to play no part in the process. It is, at the end of the day, all about the money, and the morality just doesn't come into it.

The Gama controversy blew up earlier this year when Socialist TD Joe Higgins lifted the lid on their rackets in the Dáil. Workers were being forced to work up to 80 hours a week, they were being paid far below the minimum wage and some of their salaries were being deposited in bank accounts abroad, accounts about which the workers themselves knew nothing.

To say that these workers were in a vulnerable position when they came to Ireland would be a gross understatement. They came from various parts of Turkey and lived in barracks-style accommodation, being housed and fed by the company. With our current work permit system they were effectively indentured to Gama, if they quit they would be forced to leave the country. In fact most of those who complained and got involved in the dispute over pay and hours have now left the country after their work permits expired. Work permits can be renewed under the current system, but only on the request of the employer.

The construction industry – who by the way are afraid of their lives to speak out about the behaviour of the National Roads Authority and local authorities lest they lose out on future contracts – will tell you off the record that the 615-day estimate for the Castleblaney work is wildly optimistic. Joe Higgins says it is a target which can only be met by workers being forced to work the 80-hour, seven-day weeks we have heard of from other sites.

The industry also says that on a project like this, a company from a low-income economy like Turkey has a huge advantage. The job in Castleblaney is to design and build the road. On a job like this the design and supervision part of the project will cost just as much as the build and Gama can do this much cheaper. An engineer from Turkey, based at home but working on an Irish project will earn about €800 a month. An engineer from Ireland will cost a construction company about €8,000.

It is a fact that in the Irish economy professional fees constitute the greatest rip off imaginable and they are something which must be tackled if we are ever to bring down the costs of doing business here. By sourcing professionals abroad Gama have a huge advantage and the potential to make huge profits.

The funny thing is that in 2003 Gama actually posted a loss on their Irish operation. The loss came through their repaying of huge loans to their Turkish parent company. It meant they were able to defer tax from that year, despite having tens of millions on deposit in Irish banks. We are told that the Revenue Commissioners are in the process of investigating Gama, but when the company's own auditors quit a few weeks ago because they couldn't get information from them, what hope do the Revenue have?

In the meantime the NRA appear to be washing their hands of the Castleblaney business. A planned discussion on the project was deferred this week for two months, leaving Monaghan County Council to make up their minds on their own. When the controversy arose about Gama in recent months I found that the people of Ennis didn't care about the conditions the workers of Gama building the town bypass were forced to endure. They just wanted the road built, as did Clare County Council.

Maybe in Monaghan people will decide it is not just all about the money. Morality should play a part as well, even in modern Ireland.

Fergal Keane is a reporter with RTÉ Radio's Five Seven Live