asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if the proposal to replace postmen with delivery vans is designed to reduce their numbers; and, if so, if he is aware of the hardship which will be caused to temporary postmen in the service by the loss of employment in rural areas.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Employment of Postmen.
10.
The amalgamation of postmen posts is inherent in the extension of motorised services. In order to avoid hardship, the policy has been not to displace established or quasi-permanent staff but to await the occurrence of suitable vacancies. The men taken on to fill the vacancies pending the preparation and implementation of motorisation proposals have been employed on a purely temporary basis. Some have been kept on for longer periods than was originally envisaged but the great majority of them have had comparatively short service.
Do the Parliamentary Secretary and his Department consider that the money would be better spent in the employment of local men to do the job of delivering the mails than on employing vans run on imported fuel?
I do not think that is a justifiable argument.
Most of those are only temporary postmen. The Parliamentary Secretary says that established postmen will not be displaced. Those who will be displaced are temporary postmen and there is a very large number of temporary postmen in this country. Most of those are the people who will be displaced.
As I explained in the reply, I agree that people will be displaced. In actual fact, no established postmen are being displaced. We are awaiting vacancies. There is a short delay between the time the vacancy occurs and the time motorisation can be introduced. During that time temporary postmen are taken on, on the understanding that they will be replaced and that it is really only very temporary employment. From that point of view, the Department should not be accused of doing people out of employment when, in fact, the employment is only on a very temporary basis.