asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state whether the additional emergency bonus of 4/- per week, recently permitted by Order, applies to all workers, manual and clerical; and whether county and urban councils are empowered to pay this bonus to their employees as the cost of living affects each working man.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Additional Emergency Bonus.
The amending Order, referred to by the Deputy, applies to the classes of employees, including manual and clerical workers, covered by the principal Order, that is, Emergency Powers (No. 260) Order, 1943.
Employees of local authorities are excluded from the scope of the principal Order. The remuneration of such employees is a matter for the local authority concerned and the Minister for Local Government and Public Health.
It should be understood that the Order does not permit the payment of additional bonus without prior sanction which should be sought in the normal way provided by the principal Order.
Would the Minister say if that means that road workers are excluded from the possibility of getting any benefit directly as a result of this Order?
Road workers were never covered by the terms of the No. 260 Order.
And they are excluded now?
They always were unaffected.
And they are unaffected by the latest Order? Is not that the position?
The employees of local authorities were never affected by the No. 260 Order.
And they are not now affected by this Order?
That is the same thing.
Would the Minister say if he intends to issue any Order giving the same facilities to the employees of local authorities?
That is a separate question.
The question should be addressed to the appropriate Minister.
Would the Minister be prepared to reconsider the case of working men of this description?
I have already explained to the Deputy that this is not my concern—that the wages paid to local government employees are a matter for the local authorities and the Minister for Local Government.
You know what that means.