asked the Minister for Lands if he is aware that, in the Gort district, County Galway, 23 workers employed by the Forestry Department for the past seven years, are paid a wage of 44/4 a week for skilled workers and 42/2 a week for the others, and to work an eight-hour day; that they are not paid for church holidays, nor is any overtime available on the job; that those men find it almost impossible to maintain their families on such meagre earnings; and if, in the circumstances, he will grant them a suitable increase.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Forestry Workers' Wages.
The wages of forestry labourers in the Gort district and elsewhere are related to the rates of wages payable to other classes of labourers in Government employment and are reviewed from time to time in the light of the rates prescribed for agricultural labourers by the Agricultural Wages Board. The current wages for forestry labourers in the Gort district, for a 48-hour week, vary from 46/- for skilled experienced labourers to 44/- for others; from these amounts the usual employee's contribution for national health insurance is deducted. These rates were fixed since the latest wages Order of the Agricultural Wages Board was promulgated and they will be reviewed whenever the board makes a new wages Order. The question of work on church holidays is usually governed by local custom; stoppages of work on such holidays are due to the voluntary action of the workmen. Overtime on forestry operations, especially during winter months, is not usual.