asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs whether an instruction was recently issued by his Department for the reduction of the number of employees on the labouring staff; and, if so, whether in view of the unemployment which will result, he will take steps to rescind this instruction.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Post Office Labouring Staff.
52.
The number of temporary labourers required varies from time to time and is increased or reduced according to the nature of the work to be done and to the deployment of technical staff. Arrangements were made some time ago to adjust the number of temporary labourers employed so as to conform to the current year's programme which provides for an increase of over 240 in the permanent engineering staff. Temporary labourers are recruited for particular works and it is normal to release them when the work for which they were recruited is completed.