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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 3 Mar 1943

Vol. 89 No. 7

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Turf Workers' Wages.

asked the Minister for Supplies whether he is aware of the fact that persons employed by the Turf Development Board, County Kildare, are paid the same rate of wages as the turf workers who are housed in turf camps; and that the non-camp workers do not receive any allowance for food and receive no payment for broken time due to weather conditions, although an allowance is made to the camp workers; and whether, in view of the anomalies thus created, he will cause inquiries to be made in the matter with a view to equalising the wages and conditions of the local workers in relation to those of the camp workers.

The concessions to migratory workers on the camp scheme in County Kildare, referred to by the Deputy, are regarded as a recompense to those men for having to leave their homes and family surroundings to take up employment on the Kildare bogs. Local workers employed by the board are engaged almost exclusively on road construction and maintenance, and their wages and conditions of employment are similar to those of road workers employed by the Kildare County Council. It is not proposed to alter this arrangement.

Does not the Minister realise that it is most anomalous to have two sets of workers doing precisely the same work and paid at entirely different rates of wages? In one case, the local workers get a wage of 35/-, while the workers in the camps get 35/- plus board and lodgings. The outside worker loses pay while he is out of work through inclement weather, whereas the camp worker is paid 5d. an hour. In view of the discontent which anomalies of that kind cause, will the Minister consider equalising the wages and conditions of the two groups of workers?

I think it is obvious that the circumstances of the workers living in camp are different from those of the workers living in their homes. The County Kildare workers employed by the board on road work are doing the same class of work as road workers employed by the county council, and I think the Deputy will understand that it is necessary to maintain uniformity of conditions for both those classes of workers.

Would the Minister say whether it is possible for the local workers to take up residence in the camp?

That depends entirely, of course, upon the existence of vacancies in the camps for which local workers can be submitted.

Is that the only reason which would operate against their taking employment in the camps?

Recruitment for the camps is confined as largely as possible to the areas in which the greatest surplus of local workers exists.

I am afraid the Minister is not familiar with the position. Local workers who applied to go into the camps have been told that they cannot be taken into the camps unless they live outside a ten miles radius from the camps, so the local worker who is anxious to go into the camps must first move ten miles out and then come back and make his application.

That is not correct.

It is quite correct, and I can produce evidence to show that it is correct.

At the present time recruitment for the camps is confined to workers who volunteer for that work, but volunteers are now being recruited from the western districts. If the number of volunteers forthcoming from those districts is insufficient, then recruitment from other districts will be considered.

Will the Minister answer this simple question? Can a local worker who lives within a mile or two of a turf camp in which there are vacancies go to the camp superintendent and offer to join the camp workers?

He cannot.

He can only be recruited to the camp when sent by the employment exchange.

But suppose a man is unemployed in that area?

Recruitment for the camps is at present confined to the congested districts.

Are the camps full at the moment?

Recruitment is proceeding at the moment. There are, in fact, more volunteers than vacancies, but they may not all be suitable for the work.

If the Minister wants, as he has said he does, uniformity of working conditions, why does he agree to pay one set of men for broken time due to inclement weather, while depriving of that payment another set of men doing the same work?

Those men are doing the same work as road workers employed by the county council. They are paid the same wages and are subject to the same conditions.

The whole thing should be reconsidered.

Will the Minister say why he will not consider applications from local persons to go into employment in the turf camps? Are the local people to be definitely debarred from employment in those camps?

Recruitment for the camps is at present confined to the western districts, where there is a number of workers considerably in excess of local needs in agriculture or turf production.

Why should the local workers in Kildare be deprived of taking employment in the camps if they want to go into the camps?

Here we have the famous Constitution ignored.

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