Vol. 191 No. 10
asked the Taoiseach whether he is aware that the correct result of the competition held by the Local Appointments Commission for the post of Chief Agricultural Officer, County Roscommon, was published in the Roscommon Herald on 22nd April, 1961, although the Commissioners' recommendation was not issued to the County Roscommon Committee of Agriculture until the 8th May, 1961; and, whether in view of the apparent breach of secrecy in this matter, he will cause an investigation to be held.
2.
asked the Taoiseach whether he is aware that the correct result of the competition held by the Local Appointments Commission for the post of County Engineer, County Louth, was published in the Roscommon Herald on 26th November, 1960, although the Commissioners' recommendation was not issued to the local authority until the 8th December, 1960; and, whether in view of the apparent breach of secrecy in this matter he will cause an investigation to be held.
I propose, with your permission, Sir, to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together.
I am aware that the position is as stated by the Deputy and I have investigated the matter. The desirable position in such cases is that the identity of the successful candidate should not be made public until the local authority have made the appointment and the candidate has formally accepted office. So far as is practicable, the procedure of the Local Appointments Commission is designed to conform with that course; and I believe that the present arrangements have, on the whole, worked satisfactorily. This procedure involves, however, notifying the unsuccessful candidates that their applications have not been successful, and requiring the successful candidate to furnish evidence of his age, academic or professional qualifications and so forth. Particularly in the case of professional appointments, where most of the applicants will be known to one another, it is virtually impossible, therefore, to prevent information about the outcome of the competition becoming known and the fact of such disclosure of the result in this way is no evidence of a breach of confidence on the part of anyone. Persons familiar with the procedure of the Local Appointments Commission are often able, in the manner I have described, to deduce the identity of the candidate being considered for a position before any official announcement is made on the subject. I do not think that any useful purpose would be served by taking any further action in these cases.
Is the Taoiseach aware that these are the only two instances where a local or any newspaper published the correct result before the local authority had the official information? In the circumstances, would the Taoiseach not agree that there has been a leakage from some source in the Local Appointments Commission to a channel in this newspaper?
I do not think there has been a leakage. I think the explanation I have given as to how the information may have become known is a far more reasonable one.
Is the Taoiseach aware that the newspaper stated that they exclusively announced the appointment of Mr. X? In view of that statement, would the Taoiseach not agree that the integrity of the Local Appointments Commission has been put under grave suspicion and would he not consider it desirable to make a statement that he would deplore such breach of confidence in future?
I have here the extracts from the newspaper. It is not apparent to me that they announced that they had the information exclusively. It just appears to have been a piece of enterprise on the part of the newspaper.
No, sir. Is the Taoiseach aware that the Roscommon Herald within the past month patted themselves on the back and stated that they exclusively announced this appointment before the official result was known to the county committee of agriculture? In view of that statement, does the Taoiseach persist now in stating that two such appointments were known as a result, shall we say, of skilful reporting?
No, I do not. It is extremely likely that the Roscommon County Engineer knew that he was successful in the competition for County Louth before the County Louth committee had made the appointment. It is equally likely that the applicant for the position of Chief Agricultural Officer of County Roscommon knew that he was successful before the Roscommon County Council made the appointment, by reason of the fact that he had received from the Local Appointments Commissioners a request to furnish his birth certificate and other documents necessary to enable them to confirm the nomination.
Is the Taoiseach aware that the County Engineer for Louth first knew of the appointment when he saw it in the Roscommon Herald? As a result of seeing it in the Roscommon Herald he wrote to the Local Appointments Commission querying what had taken place to make sure that he would not be blamed for any alleged leakage of information. How does the Taoiseach reconcile that with his statement now?
The procedure is as I have described it. It was the practice at one time not to notify unsuccessful candidates until the appointment had been made, but there were many objections to it. If there is any change suggested in that procedure, it could be considered. No change would prevent the successful applicant, when receiving a request for the usual information from the Local Appointments Commission, guessing that he was going to be appointed.
