asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs whether the capital commitment for telephone development in respect of the current financial year has been curtailed, and, if so, in respect of what services; further, whether there has been any curtailment in the staffing of the engineering branch, and whether, as recommended by the industrial consultant, the practice has now been adopted of recruiting staff on a basis of maximum efficiency and of eliminating junior staff found not to be efficient after a period of trial.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Telephone Development.
There has so far been no curtailment of telephone capital expenditure or of engineering branch staff. As regards the future, I shall make a full statement shortly—probably in connection with a new Telephone Capital Bill which is required to provide further moneys for telephone development. On the final part of the question, the position is that permanent staff are recruited by way of competitions conducted by the Civil Service Commission and serve a probationary period during which their fitness for retention is tested. Temporary and quasi-permanent staff are selected departmentally and are not retained unless they are found satisfactory.