asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health if he will state the annual cost for the Counties of (1) Laoighis, and (2) Offaly, in respect of services given by the county and assistant surveyors and other supervisory staffs for producing turf for the community since the commencement of the emergency; and if the amount involved has been or will be recovered from the Central Fund.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Turf Production—Cost of Staffs (Laoighis and Offaly).
The county and assistant surveyors and other permanent officials of the local authority are whole-time officers and are paid annual salaries for the discharge of the duties assigned to them. Surveyors are engaged on road works, public health works, various relief works, as well as turf-cutting operations, but no portion of their salaries is specifically charged to any of their duties. Services in connection with the turf production schemes rendered by the county surveyors and other permanent officials of the Laoighis and Offaly County Councils have not imposed any additional charges on the funds of these county councils. The question of recoupment from the Central Fund therefore does not arise.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that the county and assistant surveyors and the overseers have been withdrawn from these counties, as well as from other counties, for at least six months of the year to produce turf for the community to be sold at a commercial price? In view of that, is it right that the ratepayers of the counties concerned should have to pay for their services?
The question has been examined from every angle, and, in view of the fact that the salaries of the temporary staff specially recruited for turf work as well as the amounts paid to the permanent members of the county council clerical staff for overtime, together with the bonuses paid to the county and the assistant surveyors are discharged from the turf fund, it has been felt unnecessary to take any action in the matter.
Is it a fact that the late county manager, at the recent sworn inquiry, admitted that he should have charged the cost of the services given by the county and assistant surveyors to the turf fund, but that, unfortunately, he did not do so? Will the Parliamentary Secretary see that that is done, and that a sum representing the services given by these officers is charged to the turf production campaign and not to the ratepayers of the county who got no benefit from the scheme in the matter of the price of turf?