asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs what steps are being taken to improve the conditions of service of postmen; how many postmen are (a) permanent and (b) temporary; and how many temporary men have been refused permanent appointment because they are deemed not to be sufficiently fluent in Irish.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Postmens' Conditions of Service.
47.
Improvement of the conditions of service of postmen, designed to keep their conditions in line with developments and trends in the community generally, is a continuing process. Changes in postmen's conditions, as for other civil servants, are settled under the scheme of conciliation and arbitration which is the agreed negotiating machinery for the Civil Service.
2,760 full-time postmen are permanent and 329 full-time postmen are temporary. In addition, there are 2,266 part-time postmen.
Competitions for permanent appointments are conducted by the Civil Service Commission and the information sought in the final part of the question is not available in my Department.
Is the Minister now asking the House to accept he is unaware that a very large number of postmen are prevented from becoming permanent because they are deemed not to have sufficient fluency in the Irish language? Is the Minister also asking us to accept that he is validly discharging his duty as Minister when he is in a position to know that a large number of employees in his Department are prevented from becoming permanent people, content in their jobs, because of this ridiculous rule?
The Deputy should be aware that the requirements about Irish are laid down by the Minister for Finance. I imagine any question on this subject should be referred to the Minister for Finance.
What about collective responsibility? The Minister's responsibility is for these unfortunate postment and their families. I would suggest that the Minister has a greater function in this than any other Member of this House.