I move:—"That the Dáil agrees with the Committee on Finance in the Resolutions of Supply reported in respect of the several Estimates."
ESTIMATES FOR PUBLIC SERVICES—REPORT STAGE.
I want to raise one matter on the Report Stage of the Estimates. It is in connection with the regulations to be issued by the Civil Service Commissioners in the case of officers appointed on special recommendations or modified war certificates. Coming over from the British administration, where a number of officers here were appointed on special recommendation, those officers were to be medically examined after a period of twelve months, and if the Department were satisfied with their health, they were automatically to be appointed established officers on modified war certificates. The transfer of Government took place over four years ago, but nothing has been done by the Civil Service Commissioners here to carry out the arrangements which were entered into between the British administration and those officers. I can understand some delay, but cannot understand a delay of four years, and while the Minister may not be conversant with the point just now, I ask him to look into the matter with a view to having those regulations promulgated at an early date, and thus meet the case of those officers who have been waiting four years for appointment.
I wish to raise the question of the status of lace instructresses employed by the Department of Fisheries. I do not wish to go very elaborately into the case on the Report Stage. Really the matter should have been raised on Committee, but I want to appeal to the Minister for Finance to take into consideration the great hardship inflicted upon these ladies by their unsatisfactory status. The information which I have is that there are about forty-nine of these ladies. Their positions are temporary, and are terminable on a month's notice. Of these forty-nine, four have service of over twenty-five years; four have service of over twenty years' and twelve have service of over ten years. Most of the Deputies from the congested areas have very clear knowledge of the valuable services these ladies rendered to the cottage industries in these districts. In Donegal, that is particularly so. One or two of the ladies there have twenty-five years' continuous service, which has brought them recommendations from their own Department—the C.D.B.—for permanent appointment, and which has earned for them, time after time, from the heads of their Department the greatest praise for the public work which they accomplished. The work of these ladies was of a highly technical character—lace-making of a very special design, crochet work, and knitting of various kinds, which has been introduced recently owing to the failure of the lace industry. The women and girls in these districts have been taught by these ladies. The salaries are exceptionally small for the class of work they have to do. No provision is made for them in the case of sickness, retirement, or old age. I need scarcely tell the Dáil that a lady who has given twenty-five years' continuous service— and there are four of these—is not in a good position to enter the world market and seek an opening for her services again.
I have a number of documents from public men with regard to the work of these ladies, but I will only read a couple of them. The first one refers to the Association in which these ladies are combined. It states: "The above Association have repeatedly urged their claims to Civil Service scale of pensions before the Minister for Fisheries but, so far, without result. A number of the members have been for over 20 years employed in fostering and reviving the cottage industries. Their salaries are so small as to be just sufficient to maintain them, and they have nothing left for protection against sickness or old age. The members of above are whole-time servants in the employment of the State, just as National Teachers, Poor Law officials, etc., and these latter receive pensions. Why are the industrial teachers penalised? They toil and moil during their whole life in the service of the State and, in the end, they are cast aside wholly unprovided for." That is signed by the President of the Association. I have another document here from a public man whom I know. He is a county councillor and he lives in the heart of one of those districts where these cottage industries have attained a high state of perfection. He says: "I have read the application from the industrial teachers for Civil Service pensions and I fully realise that their claim is fair and just. I have known these local teachers and I know how many poor and necessitous families they have kept from starvation. They gave, to my own knowledge, their whole time to the business for the last 25 years and I am confident that no just Government could see its way to throw them on the streets in their old age, seeing that teachers, civil servants and employees of country councils receive pensions." I do not wish to labour this question any further. I merely wish to state that Deputies from the maritime districts had an interview with a deputation from this Association. We went into their case as fully as possible and we came to the conclusion that it would be a just and fair thing for the Minister for Finance to take into consideration, as I believe he did before, the particulars of these cases and see if something could not be done for these unfortunate ladies.
With reference to the point raised by Deputy Norton, I cannot tell him exactly what the position is, but I think I will be able to let him know on one of the stages of the Appropriation Bill. As regards the people who got the modified war certificate, if their health is such that a certificate would have been given at that time, I think they are entitled to establishment.
The point raised by Deputy Doherty is one which I can only promise to examine. The Deputy spoke to me about it a couple of weeks ago, but I have not been able to go into the question since. I will do so at an early opportunity.
Question—"That the Dáil agree with the Committee in the said resolutions"—put and agreed to.
The Dáil went into Committee on Finance.