asked the Minister for Lands the number of civil servants employed by the Land Commission; the number being transferred to Castlebar; and the number of males and females recruited for the new offices in Castlebar.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Land Commission Personnel.
3.
Cavan): The number of civil servants employed in the Land Commission is 963.
One hundred and five officers from the Land Commission and 69 from the Forest and Wildlife Service of my Department are being transferred to Castlebar. Thirty-four female staff and four male staff have been, or are being recruited locally to serve in the new offices in Castlebar.
Can the Minister tell us if this is the total number that will be working in the new Land Commission offices in Castlebar from his Department?
(Cavan): The proposal is to transfer 174 of the Land Commission staff from Dublin to Castlebar. The authorised staff of the Land Commission is 963 in the Land Commission section and 1,044 in the Forest and Wildlife section. Already located in the provinces are 232 Land Commission staff and 730 from the Forest and Wildlife section which means that out of 2,007 there are 962 already in the provinces. As I said, it is proposed to transfer 174 further members of the staff from Dublin to Castlebar and the final result will be that 871 will be located in Dublin and 1,136 will be in the provinces.
If I heard the Minister properly I think he stated that 38 people were recruited for the new jobs in Castlebar?
(Cavan): I said that 34 female staff and four male staff have been or are being recruited locally to serve in the new offices.
What type of employment will these people have? Are they clerical staff or people who will be working in the offices as attendants or porters? What exactly is the nature of the employment to be undertaken by the 38 people he mentioned?
(Cavan): The staff being recruited locally will consist of four porter-watchmen and 34 clerical assistants (female).
In view of the fact that only 34 people are being employed locally for the new offices in Castlebar, would the Minister agree that it was dishonest of his Department to run a competition inviting applications from several hundred people giving the impression that quite a large number would be employed?
(Cavan): I do not agree. I am not aware from the information in my brief that several hundred were interviewed but I know that most of the people who are going to Castlebar volunteered from existing branches of the civil service. They expressed a wish to go to Castlebar. The full complement was not available in this way and it was necessary to have a competition to recruit the balance. It may well be that many more applied than there were jobs available but the Department never gave the impression that several hundred jobs were available
Would the Minister agree that theoretically the whole Department of Lands was to be transferred to Castlebar whereas I understand about 800 are still in Dublin and only a couple of hundred are going down there, plus 38 jobs? We understood that the whole Department was being transferred to Castlebar.
(Cavan): I appreciate that the Deputy was not a Member of the House at the time when it was decided by the then Government in 1972 that the transfer to Castlebar would be confined to the sections that are now being transferred. I do not know whether the Deputy wants to make little of the transfer to Castlebar, but the fact is that in the region of 200 people are taking up employment in Castlebar, people who were not employed there before, and that the annual wage bill in the area will be in the neighbourhood of £500,000 per year and that in addition to those being directly employed other people will be indirectly employed, in the catering, cleaning and other fields. I think the entire operation is very well worth while and one which is welcome in Castlebar. It is something in the nature of a pilot effort.
A final supplementary——
Order. Question No. 4.