asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether the alterations made by the Experts in the civil constructional portion of Siemens-Schuckert's original scheme materially affected the number of men estimated to be required for the work, and whether the number of 2,100 indicated in the Siemens-Schuckert estimate (p. 65) was the basis of the labour costs of the completed contract.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - LABOUR REQUIREMENTS ON SHANNON SCHEME.
TOMAS MAC EOIN
The answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. The provisions of the contract in regard to labour costs are not based on the number of workers but on the experience of engineers as to the normal proportion borne by labour to other costs on works of this kind.
Does the Minister recollect that in the Siemens-Schuckert estimates and in the Experts' Report presented to the Dáil there were estimates given of the number of persons who would be employed?
I should like to state to the Dáil, before making any reply to the Deputy, my position with regard to this whole matter. The Deputy is, according to his own public statements, engaged in a campaign to impede a scheme which has been approved by the Oireachtas, and to add appreciably to the expenditure on it authorised by vote of the Oireachtas. He is seeking to defeat a deliberate resolution of the Dáil in respect to wages, that decision being sought by the Deputy's own motion. I feel, in the circumstances, that I must be quite rigid on the matter of supplementary questions as these raise technical points which have already involved Deputy Johnson in faulty deductions, based upon erroneous calculations from figures supplied by me. Consequently, I must ask for notice of any supplementary question on the point.