To-day, Sir, I asked a question of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs about the appointment of a rural postman in my area. He informed me that a young man named Boyle has been temporarily appointed, that six candidates were nominated by the local labour exchange, and that he is satisfied that the man selected was the most suitable for the temporary appointment. I want to bring to the Minister's notice and to the notice of the House that I do not believe this appointment was made as it should have been made. There were six applicants for this position as temporary postman. The previous postman retired about the 14th December last and the position was filled since by a young man of excellent character, who had all the necessary qualifications, who has now been cast aside and another man appointed. I am informed that the knowledge of Irish possessed by Mr. Boyle who has been appointed is very slight, that he has in fact very little or none, while the man who filled the position up to this was the bearer of a gold Fáinne. Part of the time of the House to-night has been occupied by a debate on the dwindling use of Irish in Irish-speaking districts. If, for no other reason than that, if the Minister or the Government were genuine in their alleged desire to foster the Irish language and to bring it into its own, the one factor that should override all others in this appointment was the fact that the man who held the position and discharged it honourably since the beginning of December had a competent knowledge of Irish and he should be left in the position. He had, as I say, the gold Fáinne, he could conduct business in Irish, whereas the person who got the position ultimately has practically no knowledge of the language. What really happened was that the local Fianna Fáil club met some time in the third week of December. At that meeting there were three applicants for the position. One of them was rejected by the club and the other two were made to cast lots for the position. It is strange—I suppose the Minister may tell us it was just a coincidence —that the man who now fills the position was the man who won the toss.
It is with great reluctance that I raise this question at all because it is a shameful thing that the time of the House should be taken up over such a simple matter, but it is not the position itself I am so much concerned with as the principle involved. It was not the Minister who made the appointment in this case; it was the local Fianna Fáil club, consisting of seven or eight persons who met in a shed one night. Seven or eight people out of a population of 500 or 600 in the parish area met and made the appointment. It was decided at this famous meeting that the bearer of the gold Fáinne would be sent to England to look for a living and he has to go to England now.
The position that we have reached in this country is that all this talk about a knowledge of Irish is more or less a blind. It does not matter whether you have Irish or not if you have a sufficient "pull". That covers a multitude of iniquities. The appointment made in this case proves that up to the hilt. I should like to know whom the postmaster in Claremorris recommended for this position and on what grounds the present holder of the position was appointed. He was chosen from all the others—a man who is coming into a holding of land and who has no other person on it but himself and who definitely has no Irish. He may be honest and straight in every other way but, as against that, here was a migratory labourer who was in England even as late as last summer who is turned down regardless of all his qualifications, and regardless of the fact that he discharged the duties of the position fully and honourably since the first days of last December. I should like to know on what grounds this man who had a thorough knowledge of Irish was found unsatisfactory or why he was rejected. It is a strange state of affairs if a few men in a district can sit and fill a position like this over the heads of everybody else, including the Minister. I do not want to say that a man who is a Fianna Fáil supporter may not be as good as the next, but definitely here was a case where a man who, as regards qualifications, was head and shoulders over the man who now fills the position was cast out.
As I have said, it is with reluctance that I raise the matter at all because it is shameful that the time of the House should be taken up discussing such a matter as this. Many appointments outside the Department of Posts and Telegraphs are filled in a very similar fashion. Some time ago the people in my constituency gave a very clear and definite answer to that kind of conduct, or rather I should call it misconduct, on the part of the Government in putting people into positions by "pull" regardless of whether they are qualified or not. It is true that this is only a minor position but even in the filling of such a position, if we foster in the minds of the people the idea that those with a thorough knowledge of Irish will get first preference in jobs, provided that other qualifications are equal, we should be consistent and give it to the person who has gone to the trouble of educating himself in becoming proficient in the language.
We have now the position that this man who had acquired a competent knowledge of Irish must go to England where Irish will be of no use to him unless he wants to write a letter home in Irish. I think that instead of being penalised and driven out of the country at the dictates of the local Fianna Fáil club, a man such as he should be kept at home at all costs. I want to know from the Minister whom the postmaster recommended for this job. I understand that the usual procedure is that the postmaster recommends a number of applicants, with special emphasis on the qualifications of one or two. Finally, I understand the decision rests with the Minister. Why was the person who now holds the position appointed? What qualification had he for the position? He clearly has a farm of land to work and there is no person dependent on him. It was not a case of his being on the dole or of being unemployed. He could have got full-time employment on a fairly large-sized holding of land.
The other man has to accept the dictates of the local Fianna Fáil club and go back to England now, and, of course, he can leave his Fáinne behind him when he goes.
