asked the Minister for Education if he has circularised Deputies about the scheme for secretarial assistance in schools; the names of the Deputies so circularised; and the date or dates on which they were circularised.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Schools Secretarial Assistance.
26.
On 31 January 1979 I forwarded particulars of this scheme to all Deputies and Senators of my party.
Copies of this scheme had already been placed in the Oireachtas Library on 7 November 1978.
Will the Minister ensure in future that any circular of this kind he issues as Minister will not be confined solely to members of his own party and will be sent as a matter of courtesy to all Members of this House?
Details of the scheme were available to the Deputy in the Dáil Library. The reason I sent it to members of my own party was because they requested me to do so at a meeting of the parliamentary party. They were concerned about the scheme. Any Deputy from any party who contacted my office about the scheme also got details of it.
Will the Minister say not why he sent it to Deputies of his own party but why he did not also send it out to Deputies on the other side of the House?
I was asked to send it out by members of my own party at a parliamentary party meeting. They were concerned and anxious to get jobs for people in their areas.
I accept that was the desire of Deputies in the Minister's party but would the Minister not accept that in taking this unilateral action he was abusing his office for political purposes?
I reject that suggestion. I simply sent out information to people. There had been a slow response to the scheme in some instances because managers were discouraged by letter from implementing the scheme. The Deputies in my party asked me to send them details of the scheme and I did so. Any Deputy who asked for a copy of the scheme got it.
Will the Minister now send out to all Deputies in the House the same information that he sent to Fianna Fáil Deputies?
The information is available in the Dáil Library. If the Deputy wants details of the scheme I will send them to him.
Will the Minister send out details to all Deputies?
I will send it to any Deputy who asks me. I was asked to send details by members of my own party.
(Cavan-Monaghan): Is it not discriminatory to send out specified information through the Government services to 84 Deputies and to ignore the remainder?
The Deputy will be aware that we meet once a week, as his own party probably do. When I was asked specifically to send out information to Deputies in my party I sent it out to them.
(Cavan-Monaghan): Does the Minister not agree that when he got that request and when he was sending it out to the 84 Deputies it would have been a good idea to send it out to all Deputies?
It did not occur to me. I was asked to send it out to them and I did so. There was no intention to exclude anybody.
If the Minister is seriously interested in filling the jobs, does he not think there would be a better chance of filling them if he circularised 144 Deputies rather than 84 Deputies?
I am very pleased to see the Deputies' interest in the scheme now. One of my problems was that enough interest was not shown in the scheme at any level.
I should like to raise a point of concern to the Chair. May I inquire from the Chair if he has noticed a very high degree of unbecoming arrogance on the part of the Minister for Education? Should the Minister act in that manner? It is most unbecoming, particularly from the Minister for Education who should be giving his colleagues——
That is not a point of order. I am calling Question No. 27.
I should like to tell the Chair that I will not be morally lectured by the pietistic Deputy for Laois-Offaly.