asked the Minister for Finance if he is aware that Captain McNamara, Superintendent of the Levelling Branch of the Ordnance Survey Office, Phoenix Park, has been relieved of his present position; if he will state the reason; and if in the interest of the survey he will make inquiries into the strained relations which are alleged to have existed between certain officers in the survey before Captain McNamara was relieved of his present position.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - ORDNANCE SURVEY OFFICIALS.
Captain McNamara has been transferred from the position of Acting Superintendent of the Levelling Department, Ordnance Survey Office, to take charge of a Revision Section in the Field, on account of insubordination to his superior officer. The circumstances were fully enquired into before this action was taken.
Is the Minister in a position to deny that Captain McNamara has made allegations to responsible officials that very valuable records were destroyed immediately after the Truce and that very valuable plates were sent to Southampton and Belfast? Is he, further, in a position to deny that a large number of levelling records, published and sent broadcast, are inaccurate and misleading to the engineering profession and for public works, and would he state whether these allegations, made to responsible Ministers, had anything to do with the report upon which he is now transferred to an inferior position?
Is the Minister aware that no plates in the Ordnance Survey were destroyed; is he aware that Capt. McNamara was a loyal servant up to the date of the Truce and that, like a good many more people in this country, he started to develop a record after the Truce, and since then has been guilty of continued insubordination and insolence to his superior officers?
Would the Minister consider the desirability or advisability of putting this particular Department in the hands of qualified and competent surveyors?
That is a different matter.