asked the Minister for Education if he will state if it is proposed to increase the annual grant to Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaedhilge; and, if so, what is the new figure proposed and for what reason is the additional sum being proposed; if he will further state if (a) the secretary and (b) the director of this organisation are civil servants each holding a whole-time pensionable post and seconded to their present positions; and, if so, whether pension, establishment, promotion and incremental rights have been secured, and whether either of them holds any other position of emolument; and, if so, what is the position and the emolument; whether civil servants have been appointed to corresponding posts in other organisations like the Gaelic League or Glún na Buaidhe; and, if so, what such corresponding posts are, and whether these other civil servants have been given corresponding security.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaedhilge.
An application for an increased grant has been received from Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaedhilge, but no decision has yet been reached regarding the application.
(a) The secretary of the Comhdháil is a clerical officer on the staff of the Department of Education who has been temporarily seconded to her present position; in accordance with the usual conditions applicable in such cases, she retains the rights mentioned, and her present employers refund to the Department her salary together with 15 per cent. thereof towards superannuation cost; this officer also receives an allowance of £125 per annum from the committee of Oireachtas na Gaeilge for discharging the duties of financial secretary to that body.
(b) The director of the Comhdháil is not a civil servant; he is an officer of the County Donegal Vocational Education Committee who has been granted temporary leave of absence without pay in order to take up his present position, and he receives no remuneration apart from the salary attached to that position.
As regards the latter parts of the question I can only reply on behalf of my own Department, and no civil servant from the Department of Education has been appointed to a position in any other organisation such as those mentioned.
asked the Minister for Education if he is aware that the application forms issued by Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaedhilge in connection with vacancies do not request any information as to the service of applicants in any of the branches of the Defence Forces; and, if so, how the organisation became aware of the service qualifications of the two persons recently appointed; and whether he is satisfied that only two applicants with service qualifications had made application in connection with the seven posts then advertised.
I am aware that the forms of application mentioned do not include any direct reference to service in the various branches of the Defence Forces as these forms were prepared before an intimation was given to the Comhdháil that credit should be given for such service. I am informed however that all the best qualified applicants were asked at an interview for full information regarding their national service; I have been assured that when this included service in the Defence Forces due credit was given therefor, and I have accepted that assurance.
The inquiry as to whether I am satisfied that only two applicants with service qualifications had made application appears to be based on a misinterpretation of the reply I gave to the Deputy's previous question on this subject. I did not state in that reply that the two persons with service qualifications who had been appointed were the only applicants with that qualification, as I was aware that there was one unsuccessful applicant who had had military service. I am informed that this applicant did not furnish the prescribed evidence of age, and that in fact he was under the minimum age mentioned in the regulations.