asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will state the weekly amount of the recent Civil Service award offered to (a) full-time and (b) part-time local agents of his Department; and, if there is a differentiation, what considerations have applied when determining whether agents are full-time or part-time employees.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Social Welfare Local Agents.
The term local agent covers all agents employed by my Department, excluding the established agents serving in the cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford. All local agents without differentiation are regarded as part-time employees and, as such, qualified for the award of 5/- per week granted to part-time civil servants generally.
Does the Parliamentary Secretary think it is just that full-time men should get an increase of 5/- and that part-time men should get 10/-?
I do not fully understand the Deputy, but the answer to the question put to me here is that the particular employees are part-time and as such got an increase of 5/- each. Many of them are postmen or rent collectors; more are home assistance officers; and their maximum working time, with five exceptions, does not exceed 20 hours a week.