asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is now in a position to make a further statement with regard to the loss of letters posted to a County Limerick address, and the reasons why other letters were opened.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Limerick Postal Deliveries.
The Deputy's previous question on this matter related to three incidents affecting the correspondence of the person concerned, namely (1) the non-receipt of letters addressed to him in London which had been posted in July, 1956, in a County Limerick letter-box, (2) the non-receipt of six letters posted in December, 1955, to his home address in County Limerick and (3) the opening at the G.P.O. Limerick of letters posted in London in May, 1956, to his wife at their County Limerick address.
With regard to the first incident, the position, as I have already explained to the Deputy, is that inquiries made by my Department and the British Post Office have not disclosed the circumstances in which the items failed delivery.
With regard to the other two incidents, I have made further inquiry on the basis of information since supplied by the Deputy.
There is still no trace in my Department of any complaint regarding the six items posted in December, 1955, and it would appear that the complainant raised this matter for the first time in a letter sent by him to the Deputy. I have that letter but the information given in it is not sufficiently detailed for inquiry purposes. My Department would need to have particulars of who sent the six letters, dates and places of posting and nature of contents. Those are particulars normally required for missing letter inquiries. If those particulars are supplied I shall have such inquiry made as is practicable at this late stage.
With regard to the third aspect, the letters in question were suspected of containing contraband and were forwarded to the Customs centre at Limerick in accordance with the provisions of Section 18 of the Post Office Act, 1908.
Would the Minister state what type of contraband it was suspected the letter contained?
I could not answer that. The Customs are dealing with it and it is a matter for the Minister for Finance.