I move that Deputy J.J. Walsh be nominated Postmaster-General. I think this is a nomination that will be unanimously approved by the Dáil.
TUARASGABHAIL I DTAOBH CUR AMACH RITEACH I GCOIR BAILE ATHA CLIATH THEAS. - POSTMASTER-GENERAL.
Mr. C. BYRNE
I beg to second the motion.
I have very great pleasure in supporting this nomination——
Cork.
He is last but by no means least. When it was not a popular thing to support Irish ideals, the present Postmaster-General was in the fight. He risked his life and lost his liberty and his employment. These, though they may be strong recommendations in his favour, would not be recommendations that should absolutely impose him on the Dáil if he were unfitted for the position; but what stands most in his favour is that the Dáil and the country have had experience of his administrative abilities as a Postmaster-General. Before I became a member of the Dáil one of the pleasant experiences I had was to read the report of the Postmaster-General's Department——
The deficit.
He effected great economies and he has laid the foundation of an extremely successful postal system in the country. At present we suffer from disadvantages, but these are the legacies that have been left to us. I am assured that within a year our experience of the operation of the Post Office will be one that we will all have reason to congratulate ourselves on.
I rise to support this proposal. I think the pleasant recollections that Deputy O'Mahony referred to are not the pleasant recollections that I have experienced. I have had pleasant recollections in my time, but certainly one of them was not the cutting down of the daily delivery and collection of letters to three deliveries and collections in the week, as has been done in the rural districts all over the country. That is not a pleasant recollection. It is done at the expense of the rural population. We hear of two and three day deliveries in the towns, but in the country, where the people bear as much of the taxation and the burdens of the country as anyone else, it is not pleasant to be told that they would get fewer deliveries than they were previously accustomed to. It is not pleasant for people to have to pay porterage on every telegram they receive. I hope that the Postmaster-General will see that the rural population is not victimised and that the people in the towns will not be made parasites on the rural population. A citizen ought not to be penalised by the fact that he lives a certain distance from the post office. If that is to be the basis of Government it will not be satisfactory. I have great pleasure in supporting the nomination.
I desire to associate myself with what Deputy Gorey said about giving greater facilities to the people in the rural districts as regards the delivery of letters. I would also like to jog Deputy Gorey's memory, and to point out, if my recollection is accurate, and it usually is, that he advised the Postmaster-General in the last Dáil that the farmers of Ireland, in the interests of economy, would be quite willing to drive to the towns and collect their letters, and that the Postmaster-General's department could economise by doing away with the rural postmen.
On a point of personal explanation.
Order! Deputy Gorey must sit down, and allow Deputy Nagle to continue. We can take Deputy Gorey's personal explanation when Deputy Nagle is finished.
Might I ask if we are in order in discussing the administration of the Post Office?
We certainly are not.
I was going to say, when Deputy Gorey interrupted me, that I hope the Postmaster-General will take the advice Deputy Gorey has offered him on this occasion, and that he will put in the waste-paper basket the advice that he offered him on a previous occasion.
I am afraid that Deputy Nagle has not been stating facts, and I challenge him to produce the records of the Dáil to support the statement he has made. I never made the suggestion that he has referred to, and I challenge him to produce the records of the debate on that occasion to confirm one word he has uttered in connection with my name.
I will have great pleasure in delving into the records, and I will do my best to get the statement that I have referred to.
Motion put and agreed to.