I never particularly supported raising on the Adjournment matters of an industrial dispute. Since I came into this House in 1969 I have never done so. I regret that on this occasion I feel it necessary to do so in relation to the current post office engineering dispute in Cork in a manner as helpful as possible with the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs.
I want to discuss this particular dispute. I have no desire whatever to raise the other current disputes in the Department in Dublin, in Letterkenny or, indeed, in my own constituency of Dun Laoghaire as I regard them as being quite separate. Rather, I shall endeavour to isolate one and see if I can possibly be of help to the Minister and the trade union concerned, the Irish Post Office Engineering Union, in resolving the impasse which has caused widespread disruption, particularly in Cork city, and a great deal of commercial and domestic dislocation.
As the Minister is aware, basically the dispute in Cork evolves around the use of a premises in Lapps Quay. I know the area well. I know the old post office engineering depot in Copley Street. I was born and reared in that area. I declare my interest; my twin brother happens to be one of those currently involved; he is a post office technician. Leaving aside family connections, I also have close connections with the Post Office Engineering Union. I am not raising the matter merely on that basis but rather to see if we can bring about some form of settlement.
As the Minister knows, in March 1975, the disc parking system was introduced in Cork city. That included Copley Street and adjacent areas. The corporation have been bringing a great deal of pressure—and I appreciate it —on the Department to relocate the fleet of trucks and vans, the best part of 40 trucks and, in all, 100 vans, in a more suitable location to prevent road obstructions and parking violations in the overcrowded depot at Copley Street. Over the years I have been to that area many times and have seen the traffic problem there. As we well know, Cork is in a state of general traffic chaos. That particular location, the post office engineering depot, for the postal and engineering fleets involved continuous interruption of traffic. There has been a continuous flow of Posts and Telegraphs vehicles in and out of that depot awaiting repairs as well.
Overall, we can accept the need for a new headquarters and garage for Posts and Telegraphs vehicles in Cork. Not only did those premises cater for the old Copley Street premises but also the general vehicle fleet. I can recall there being things such as compressors, cable drums and winches parked outside the depot. This situation has been building up over the past seven or eight years approximately. It has surprised me—here I am not in any way blaming the Government; there have been successive Ministers involved— that, over the past five or six years a more expeditious solution of the evident problem was not brought about. One way or the other, when the decision was taken, the other premises in Lapps Quay were obtained, premises the best part of 100 years old; it was the old Tedcastle coal store. As the Minister is only too well aware, there have been a number of disputes between the Department and the union concerned regarding the suitability or otherwise of those premises for either a garage or headquarters.
I know that originally the trade union concerned, both at executive and Cork branch level, were very critical of even the very decision to use those premises. It was an old coal store. At the time it was taken over it was rat and pigeon infested, full of coal dust and so on. Some effort has been made by the Department to bring it up to the standard one might normally expect for an engineering depot headquarters. I do not propose to allocate responsibility or blame to any particular individuals in the Department, the union concerned or management at local level. In Dáil Éireann it would not be particularly helpful to descend to that level. One way or the other, the impasse obtaining is that staff through their trade union are not prepared to use those premises as a headquarters because they regard them in their current condition entirely unsuitable.
As the Minister knows, a strenuous effort has been made under the good auspices of the Employer/Labour Conference and currently under the auspices of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to see if the impasse could be resolved. I am aware that the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has been in touch with the Minister requesting a meeting to discuss this issue. Admittedly, I have been very much involved in the House today and have had no opportunity of checking the matter but I am not, as yet, aware if arrangements for that meeting have been made. I know the Minister is an extremely busy person and was away last week. However, if I recall correctly, the request for that meeting was made some ten or 14 days ago; working on memory I think it was last Friday week.
There is an urgency about the matter. There is an urgency for an agreed inspection of those premises. So serious is this dispute developing that I am not unduly perturbed as to the means by which the premises are inspected, whether it be an inspector of the Department of Labour going down with the chairman of the Employer/ Labour Conference and/or inspectors of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs—as was suggested—but that seems to have been rejected. One way or the other, a joint inspection will have to be carried out by the Department and the union. Any outstanding necessary work to bring the premises into full usable condition as a headquarters has to be set in train. I shall not arbitrate, in the sense of a parliamentary disputation with the Minister, as to whether or not it should be used as a headquarters. If the premises are suitable as a headquarters, then they should be used as such. If they are not suitable, then it is high time the Department took a sharp look at itself, sat down with the union's executive members from Dublin and, if necessary, bring in a Department of Labour inspector. If necessary he might go down there with the Department's medical officer, check the place, bring it up to standard immediately and then commence to use it as a headquarters.
There have been suspensions of individual workers for failure to carry out instructions. Then a further series of instructions arose as well. The suspensions have not particularly helped the matter. It is now six weeks since 40 men were suspended by the management. As we know, the national executive of the Post Office Engineering Union, to use the phrase, retaliated some four weeks ago by withdrawing the labour of some 20 technician linesmen and cable jointers. I understand that the Department have again suspended a further eight technicians at the head post office for not doing work proper to the original 40 suspended men.
Here we go on the classic post office merry-go-round. Approximately 4,000 subscribers in and around Cork city are without telephone services for the past four weeks, public telephone kiosks are out of order and there is considerable disruption generally. This calls for a straightforward decision by the Minister. He should tell his Departmental staffs that they should go to Cork with the union representatives and with any other individuals suggested. I understand the chairman of the Employer/Labour Conference, Professor Chubb, made a recommendation in his capacity as chairman of the steering committee that the parties should agree to a joint inspection of the premises with an officer of the Industrial Inspectorate of the Department of Labour or any other qualified person agreed between the parties with a view to seeing what changes, if any, were required. The recommendation was that the premises should be used immediately for whatever purpose an officer or qualified person recommended and suspensions should be lifted simultaneously.
The Minister without further ado should direct that the suspensions be lifted, that the inspection take place immediately and that agreement be reached on whatever final adaptation is necessary. There has been a lot of disputation between the Department and the union about the inadequacy or otherwise of toilet facilities, of locker rooms, assembly rooms and whether dining facilities should be provided in Copley Street or in Lapps Quay. I have not been in the premises at Lapps Quay and I do not want to comment on it but I am sure it is not beyond the wit of the Minister to have this inspection jointly undertaken immediately, to have the suspensions lifted and to have whatever work that remains to be done completed immediately. When this matter is resolved, I presume the premises can be designated as a headquarters. I know that in the long run the premises may not be regarded by the union as suitable. I understand the postal side in Cork have told the Department they are not going to use it as a postal headquarters and then the engineering side got it. I do not know if that is the case but it is the kind of allegation that is being made. One thing is evident; the breakdown in the telephone communications system in Cork will not benefit anybody.
I am perturbed about the current climate of industrial relations in the Department of Posts and Telegraphs. Indeed, they have not been good in recent years. I have strong private views about some of the carry-on. I can assure the Departmental staffs that my criticism would not necessarily be aimed solely at management but further comment on my part in relation to a sensitive dispute of this kind would not be very productive. I urge the Minister to deal with this matter.
