Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 27 Jun 2000

Vol. 522 No. 2

Written Answers. - Departmental Correspondence.

Michael Ring

Question:

435 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Education and Science the reason it took seven months for a reply to issue from his Department concerning a person (details supplied) in County Mayo; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17943/00]

Minister for Education and Science (Dr. Woods)

My Department receives a large volume of correspondence, including representations from Members of the Oireachtas and other public representatives. The overall aim would be to reply within a period of 21 days to correspondence and, if this cannot be done, to issue an acknowledgement.

In the case of the specific correspondence referred to, the Deputy's first letter of 18 November 1999 was acknowledged by my predecessor on 2 December 1999 and his second letter of 14 December was acknowledged on 5 January 2000.

During the period January to the end of April 2000, members of the Public Service Executive Union – PSEU – in my Department were engaged in industrial action in pursuit of a staffing claim. The PSEU had instructed its members not to carry out certain aspects of their normal work, which included work relating to queries raised in written representations from Deputies.

As the result of the industrial action, the number of representations on hands increased considerably. Following the termination of the action, the process of dealing with the backlog of correspondence was begun immediately. In the specific case raised by the Deputy, a final reply issued on 31 May 2000.