asked the Minister for Lands if he is aware that the labourers employed in his Department on the erection of houses on the divided lands at Danganbeg, County Kilkenny, are paid at the rate of 26/- per week; whether he is aware that the recognised trade union rate of wages in the county is 36/- per week; whether he can state the circumstances in which a rate of wages lower than the local trade union rate was offered to these men, and whether he is prepared to take appropriate action to bring their wages up to the level of the trade union standard.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Wages in Co. Kilkenny.
The men employed at Danganbeg are agricultural labourers without previous experience of building work. They are engaged partly to assist at house construction and partly on fencing and roadmaking, the men so employed being transferred from one work to another as circumstances require. The labour for the building work consists mainly in the raising of gravel, and the rate of wages paid is that recognised locally as applicable to agricultural labourers.