asked the Minister for Defence what action he can take to deal with an employer who refuses to reinstate an employee (details supplied) who was absent from employment as a result of being called to Army service during the northern crisis.
131.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Defence Forces Reserve.
130.
asked the Minister for Defence if his attention has been drawn to the case of a person (name supplied) who lost employment carrying a remuneration of £22 per week on average due to being called up on reserve duty last August and who is now forced to live on £8 per week social welfare benefit; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
132.
asked the Minister for Defence if there are proposals to compensate persons who are members of the Reserve and who have lost their employment by reason of being called up for duty in August, 1969, and who are now forced to exist on social welfare benefits.
With your permission, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 130, 131 and 132 together.
I took up with his employers the question of reinstating the person concerned. The employers have informed me that the contract work on which this man had been engaged prior to his call-out on Army service was almost completed at the time of his release in December last and that men were being laid off. They intimated that, even if he had remained in their employment from August to December, he would have been laid off in the latter month along with the other workers on the completion of the contract.
The employers added that they would gladly consider an application from the man concerned when next they obtained a contract in his particular area.
There are no proposals for the payment from State funds of compensation in such cases. As I informed the House in reply to a question on the 23rd October, 1969, exemption from service was granted in any case in which it was represented that the call-out jeopardised the employment of a member of the First Line Reserve.