asked the Minister for Local Government whether he will state (i) if representations have been made to him respecting pensions rights for road overseers employed by county councils; (ii) if representations of a special nature have been made to him respecting a limited number of road overseers employed by the Clare County Council whose salaries are a direct charge on the rates of the administrative County of Clare and in respect of whom no charge is made on the Road Fund; (iii) whether the road overseers mentioned at (i) and (ii) are graded as county council officers; and, if not, on what considerations they are excluded from such grading; (iv) whether he is aware that rate collectors, whose offices were temporary and non-pensionable, were, by order, graded as officers of the county council and thus qualified as officers for pension rights under the Local Government (Superannuation) Act, 1947; (v) what considerations include rate collectors as county council officers and exclude road overseers from such grading.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Clare Road Overseers.
I have received representations on this matter but I regret that there is no way open to me of admitting road overseers to any pensionable category other than that provided for in Part III of the Local Government (Superannuation) Act, 1948. The position is that the rate collector is graded as an officer while the road overseer is not, the distinction being based on the differences in the duties and responsibilities, including accounting responsibilities, attaching to the posts. There has been no regrading, by order, of the post of rate collector. Whether he is pensionable depends on the extent of his collection and on the terms of the tenure of his office.