On Tuesday, 18th February in Question No. 36 on the Order Paper, I asked the Minister for Local Government:
If he is aware that the September, 1963 monthly meeting of Laois County Council gave authority to the county manager to make a clerical appointment in the motor taxation office; that the county manager then decided to create a new post of staff officer in the Motor Taxation Department; that this post was not advertised; and that no opportunity was given to existing members of the county council staff to apply for it; why this position was not advertised; if he will state the method by which it was filled; if he is aware that the county secretary has informed members of the Council that the Minister is aware of all the circumstances surrounding this appointment; and if he will make a general statement on the matter.
I raise this in all sincerity and not for the purpose of causing the Minister any political embarrassment. I would not do so and I am not doing so now. I am raising the question solely to elicit information because this appointment is a departure from all other appointments made in the county and one which calls for an explanation. I raise the matter now in the hope that the Minister and those of his Party who are present will be able to discuss the matter in a cool, calm atmosphere. I do not intend to arouse the Minister's anger in any way but I want to ask him to explain to the House and the country, and particularly to the county in which the incident occurred, why there was this extraordinary departure in the making of this appointment.
The Minister in his reply stated that:
The Laois County Council's proposal for the creation of an additional office of staff officer in the motor taxation office was sanctioned by me on 6th December, 1963. It was stated that the county council at their meeting of 30th September, 1963, had consented to the creation of the additional office.
That is not so. Laois County Council, on 30th September, at its monthly meeting, first heard of this matter when there was a notice on the agenda asking the council to provide extra clerical assistance in the motor taxation office. There was no question whatever, and no indication was given by the county manager, that a staff officer was to be appointed. It was clearly stated that owing to the volume of work in the motor tax office, another official was necessary to cope with the increase. At the same meeting, I proposed that the necessary consent be given to the appointment of a clerical assistant in accordance with what appeared on the agenda and that proposal was passed unanimously. At no time was there mention of a staff officer.
At the October meeting of the county council, the minutes of the September meeting were signed, unobserved by the members, stating that the resolution referred to the appointment of a staff official and not a clerical assistant, as was indicated in the resolution on the agenda of the previous meeting, and which was passed unanimously by the county council. Shortly afterwards, a member of Laois County Council, Councillor Keenan, directed the attention of the chairman of the council to this inaccuracy. At the monthly meeting held in January, the same councillor asked the county manager if the post was to be advertised, or when it would be advertised, in view of the fact that a similar post in Offaly had been advertised by the Offaly County Council. The county manager replied that it was not his intention to advertise the post. He was asked why, and he made no answer. The members of the county council made inquiries to find out what happened and we discovered that an appointment had been made by the county manager. We inquired who the successful appointee was and it gave us grounds for extreme suspicion.
This appointment led to my question and to this Adjournment Debate. I want to point out that the county manager,when asked why he appointed this person, stated that there was a competition held in August, 1963, and that as a result of that competition, the appointment was made. I want to ask the Minister for Local Government whom the Minister or the county manager thinks is being fooled when they tell us that a competition was held in August and a man appointed from that competition when it was only on 30th September that Laois County Council decided to create the post and make the appointment. As there has been no explanation from the Minister or from the county manager, I say this appointment is wrong; it "stinks" and it is a bad appointment. I am not criticising the person appointed but the method of appointment, which is wrong. Everyone will agree that what happened in Laois may happen in any of the other counties if this procedure is not stopped right away. It is a bad system.
The county manager went on to tell the council that there was a competition in June, 1963, for a position as staff officer in the accounts section of the department and that it was confined to all the officials of the Laois County Council, but none of the people, not a single one, qualified in the June examination. One of the candidates who sat for that examination sat a month later for a competition open to all Ireland and gained first place and has been appointed staff officer in Donegal County Council. Was it not very strange that a competition was held in Laois amongst the staff and none of them qualified, but then one of the entrants went in for an examination open to all Ireland and gained first place?
That calls for an explanation. The serious part of this entire matter is how lightly the Minister and the county manager have taken it. I understand that some members of the Laois County Council staff felt they were qualified for promotion but had been overlooked. Their trade union is dealing with that and looking into the matter. The duty of a county manager is to cater fairly and fully for the staff under him and to create an atmosphere of goodwill and co-operation. Is it to be generally accepted that all future appointments in this State are to be made secretly and behind closed doors and no opportunity given to people, no matter how highly qualified they may be, to apply?
There is still a more serious aspect. It has now come to the ears of the members of the county council that this new staff officer appointed for the motor taxation department is now, in addition, to be given full charge of the electoral list and the compiling of the register. That is another function that has been handed over and now comes within the ambit of the county council. This is the most serious part of it. We have this appointment secretly made, without being advertised, without reason being given for it, and now we find that, in addition to the motor taxation post, he has been appointed to control the compiling of the electors list. He is a very useful official for any political Party to have on their side, or for any Fianna Fáil Deputy to have, or for any political organisation to have. That is why I say this matter is very serious. There is a growing tendency to allow appointments of this kind to go unnoticed and that is why I asked the Minister to make a statement why the county manager, from behind closed doors, appointed the cousin of a Fianna Fáil Deputy to the post.