asked the Minister for the Environment if, as requested, he will sanction the appointment of a development officer for County Waterford.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Waterford Development Officer.
12.
The proposal by the local authority to create an office of county development officer is under consideration in the Department and a decision thereon will be conveyed to the local authority as soon as possible.
Is the Minister aware that the proposal in question has been in his Department for a number of months? Can he give the House any idea how soon he expects to make a decision on the matter?
At this stage I cannot give an indication when a decision will be made. The proposal was put forward some months ago but I cannot say now when a decision will be made.
Is the non-appointment of a county development officer tied up with the embargo on new appointments in the public service?
Yes.
Will the Minister not agree that it is an unhappy situation that Waterford is not allowed to have a development officer to promote small industry which is highly desirable while adjouring areas such as South Tipperary, Kilkenny, Cork and Wexford have had similar appointments?
Yes, on the surface it would appear to be inquitous in that regard, but I am sure the situation arose before this year.
Would the Minister accept that there is a major contradiction in the Government's stated policy on job creation and the position of a development officer which is so tied up with job creation and youth employment whose appointment is being prevented because of this embargo?
Not necessarily. This is a wider question than the question on the Order Paper. The strategy of this Government will continue to be that as many funds as possible will be left in the private sector to create employment and will not be creamed off in the form of taxation of one type or another to create public service employment.
The position of development officer throughout the Republic is for liaison and the encouragement of industry. The development officer is there to assist the private sector. Surely this appointment would not fall within the category of the very right wing views we have just heard from the Minister.
What kind of views?
Right wing views which are totally anti the public sector.
If that is a description of someone who wants to ease the tax burden on industries who are prime job creators — which is the flag the Fianna Fáil Party used to fly — I will accept it. I do not disagree with what the Deputy is saying. That is what I am considering at the moment.
If the Minister is serious about encouraging the private sector, surely one officer more than any other officer in a local authority is the development officer whose job specification is such as to enable him to cooperate with the private sector in the encouragement of the creation of jobs. Surely this is one area where an embargo of the type the Minister is speaking about should not be in operation.
May I point out that, when the original application was made, Deputy Burke was Minister for the Environment.
I did not get a reply to my question.
The Deputy did not ask a question.
I did ask a question.
The record will show. I was listening.
I asked the Minister if he would not agree that the job of a development officer is such that he is the one officer within the local authority whose job specification is specifically designed to encourage and assist the private sector in the creation of employment in the area. If the Government are serious about employment, surely the Minister will allow this officer to be appointed in this county.
I agree with the first part of what the Deputy has said. With regard to the second part of it, obviously if the Government make a decision it must be abided by.
I understood that the terms of the embargo as given to us at budget time excluded productive areas and appointments of a productive nature. Surely the appointment of a development officer in a local authority would appear to be productive from the point of view of encouraging and assisting the development of small industry as we have seen in some other counties. If the statement in the July budget is correct, surely this is the type of appointment one would expect to be outside the terms of the embargo.
I have not got the Minister's exact words in the July budget. I do not disagree with the sentiments expressed by Deputy Deasy, Deputy Burke and Deputy Fitzgerald on this matter. At the moment I am engaging in trying to find a means to make the appointment.
Surely the means are available to the Minister. All he has to do is to sanction the appointment.
We can have no more supplementaries on this question.