Vol. 257 No. 10
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the cost of Christmas cards and greetings sent by him and his Parliamentary Secretary in 1970; if postage was provided free by his Department and, if so, the cost in each case; and the estimated cost of cards on order this year and if the cards will be sent free of charge.
48.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the projected cost to the Exchequer during the financial year 1971-72 of the sending of Christmas cards by him and his Parliamentary Secretary.
49.
andMr. L'Estrange asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the total number of hours during which civil servants were engaged in sending Christmas cards from him and his Parliamentary Secretary in 1970 and the projected corresponding number for 1971.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 47, 48 and 49 together.
The cost of cards provided for official use by me and my Parliamentary Secretary in 1970 was £61 and £481 respectively and the official postage paid on them was £19 and £625 respectively.
The estimated cost of cards on order this year is £65 and £155, respectively. The official postage costs are estimated at £19 and £125, respectively.
As regards the staff time involved in sending the cards, this is integrated into the normal routine duties of my office and the office of my Parliamentary Secretary and it is not feasible to assign specific costs to it.
Will the Minister agree that this reply justifies to the hilt the work which Deputy Oliver Flanagan put into this matter last year?
I know the reason Deputy Flanagan put such a great deal of work into it and he might be better employed if he applied himself to some more constructive matter.
He saved a thousand pounds this year and he is much more deflationary than all the efforts of the Minister for Finance.
Would the Minister tell us why his Parliamentary Secretary last year sent out cards costing £481, with postage of £625, over £1,100? Is it not true that last year he sent a card to everybody on the electoral register in his constituency, that a good many of them were dead and that it was Mass cards he should have sent instead of Christmas cards?
This does not arise.
The Minister intends to send £19 worth of cards. Is it his intention to send cards, as a mark of goodwill, to Colonel Hefferon and to Captain Kelly?
Would the Minister not agree that if a reasonable number of Christmas cards were sent by those in the Government who feel they should be sent there would not be many complaints in this House? Such cards have always been sent, but the excessive numbers which are sent in some cases are the cause of complaints by Deputies.
