I regret that it has taken so long to have this question raised. I understand the Ceann Comhairle's problem with regard to the number of questions which have been raised on the Adjournment in the past few weeks. I also regret having to bring in the Minister of State at the Department of Posts and Telegraphs to debate the subject matter of Questions Nos. 50 and 51 of 8 December 1981. In Question No. 50 I asked the Minister if his Department would provide auto-manual services at Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim, when the area became automatic. That was coupled with another question I put down asking the Minister the plans his Department have for the deployment of staff when Carrick-on-Shannon exchange goes automatic. I felt that the two questions should not have been taken together, but the Minister had the privilege of doing that. In his reply the Minister said:
Operator services will be retained at Carrick-on-Shannon on an interim basis after automatic service is introduced in the area. The volume of operator-assisted traffic there will, however, be greatly reduced under automatic conditions and there will, therefore, be a substantial reduction in the number of staff.
Day staff who become surplus to requirements when the exchange is converted will have the option of transferring to another exchange or resigning. Staff who opt to resign will be paid compensation and transferred staff will be paid a resettlement allowance. Night staff are recruited locally for specific exchanges and are mainly part-time. It may be possible to offer a small number of them employment elsewhere. Other night staff will be paid compensation.
In view of the fact that the exchange is scheduled to have digital equipment we are told a number of those telephonists will be retained at Carrick-on-Shannon. I should like the Minister to explain to those telephonists how many that number will be. How many of the present 77 day-operator staff will be retained at Carrick-on-Shannon? With day staff of 77 and night staff of approximately 25, the post office in Carrick-on-Shannon is one of the town's main employers. The withdrawal of the manual exchange will mean a loss in income to that area in the region of £12,000 per week.
We all appreciate the efforts being made by the Minister, and especially the efforts made by his predecessors, to provide automatic telephone services. For an area such as this a loss of 100 jobs at one time is a severe blow. Could the Department relocate some section in Carrick-on-Shannon to employ some of the staff who will become redundant? The number to be retained at Carrick-on-Shannon may be as low as ten or even five. It is unfair to expect the staff of that exchange to live in a wonderland until it becomes automatic, which is scheduled to happen in about 18 months' time, in the expectation that they will retain their jobs.
The Minister promised a deputation from the staff and the local chamber of commerce that he would consider their position favourably. I wish he had the courage to tell them what the position is: how many will be retained and what he intends to do with the balance? The balance of the staff will face grave problems. If they have to move away from Carrick-on-Shannon this will create even greater social problems in one of the most underdeveloped areas.
The Minister might consider decentralising one section of his Department which might be in a position to employ those people. Would his Department consider making available a training programme for the people who will become redundant? Most of the girls in exchanges went to work direct from school. Their only training is in the operation of a switch board. When, due to redundancy, they are forced to seek other employment in their mid-twenties or early thirties, they are faced with grave problems. Possibly they will be classed as unemployable due to the fact that they have only the one skill. The Minister might consider providing a special type of clerical course which would be suitable for them and give them a better chance of being reemployed in the area.
The Minister also said those who become redundant will receive redundancy pay. Does the Minister realise how much that is? Possibly he was shocked when I told him the rate of pay negotiated for redundancy will be on the basis of six weeks' pay for every year of service. Some of these people are married and depend on their income to pay their mortgages. We heard a great deal about mortgage repayments in the House during the past week. The redundancy pay being offered is totally unrealistic. The Minister should consider giving them redundancy payment at the rate of at least 15 weeks per year of service. Most of them will be forced to seek employment elsewhere which will be much less lucrative than the work they were trained to do.
The Minister said some of the staff will be deployed to other exchanges. Does he realise what the resettlement allowance is for those who are forced to move from one exchange to another? Perhaps he intends to send some of them to Bantry where there is to be an auto-manual exchange. The rate of compensation for movement such as that is £610. That is totally unrealistic compared with what people in this city got for moving down the street from one office to much better accommodation. He should offer them a realistic rate of redundancy and resettlement allowance. The Minister also said he told the deputation that if it were physically possible to retain a local exchange in Carrick-on-Shannon, as an interim measure, to facilitate the people in the locality, that would be looked at. He did not say how long he hoped to be in a position to keep them in employment. This contributes £11,000 to £12,000 per week in salaries and wages in the Carrick-on-Shannon area. The Minister should examine the possibility of making available some other type of employment there within his Department to cater for those who will become redundant.
Another thing that worries me is the fact that some of the engineering staff at present employed will become redundant or will be forced to move away from the area. I say that because it is digital equipment which will be used in the new automatic exchange in Carrick-on-Shannon which, when something goes wrong, may necessitate only the substitution of a piece as small as a Lego brick. That type of replacement will not merit the employment of a large number of engineering staff.
The Minister should tell us now what are his intentions with regard to the staff. He should not make any vain promises or offer unrealistic redundancy payments or relocation allowances. Many of the female staff there are married with heavy financial and family commitments. If they are made redundant, the type of redundancy payment being offered will not in any way meet their commitments whether they be mortgage payments or whatever. A large number of the staff there are unemployable. The Minister well understands that problem. I hope he is prepared to take the necessary action to alleviate the hardship that will be imposed on them. I am led to believe that the maximum redundancy that can be paid would be the equivalent of two years' full service pay. Perhaps the Minister could enlighten me on that aspect. If that is the case, let us take the case of somebody who started as a telephonist at the age of 17, who perhaps now has reached the age of 32, such person will merit the maximum redundancy payment. If the Minister considers that to be fair, then I think he should reconsider the position. I contend that such people should be granted at least 15 weeks' salary per year of service, with no limit up to five full years' pay.
The Minister should tell us truthfully what are his intentions with regard to the Carrick-on-Shannon exchange. He should tell us how many of the staff there will be retained when the exchange becomes automatic. He should tell us howlong the Department intend to maintain an auto-manual exchange in Carrick-on-Shannon, whether he is prepared to examine the possibility of increasing the rate of redundancy pay and re-settlement allowance. It would indeed be a sad day for Carrick-on-Shannon if such a large number of their work-force were forced to move from the area. I have made a number of suggestions to the Minister, including the possibility of examining a retraining programme for those people who may become unemployed.
If the Department do retain an auto-manual service at Carrick-on-Shannon what facilities will be available to the users of that system? No doubt the Minister will be in a position to tell us what will happen to the type of auto-manual exchange that may remain in Carrick-on-Shannon, if any. I say "if any" because the Minister has said he would give sympathetic consideration to the position of the telephonists in Carrick-on-Shannon. However, I believe it is the Minister's intention to leave no auto-manual exchange there. If he does intend to leave an auto-manual exchange there, then he should tell us for how long he proposes to do so and the number of people who will be employed on a permanent basis.
On the day the questions were raised in this House the Minister did not tell us what were his intentions. He said he would give the position of the employees sympathetic consideration. He said also that transfers would be provided for of a number of staff to Sligo. He should tell us this evening how many staff could be accommodated in Sligo. It is not fair to leave people not knowing what the future holds for them. Rather we should be frank and honest, tell the people of Carrick-on-Shannon what is in store for the future of the telephone exchange there. The Minister must tell us what he intends doing vis-à-vis the future of this exchange because I have already stressed the importance of that telephone exchange to employment in the area. For example, we should be told whether the Minister or the Department have any proposals for the provision of employment of the same nature, perhaps through the decentralisation of some small part of the Department to Carrick-on-Shannon. Here I have a number of suggestions to make. For example, consideration could be given to the relocation of the accounts section for telephones to Carrick-on-Shannon, a proposal which would enable the deployment of the total staff that may become redundant in Carrick-on-Shannon. I hope the Minister has sufficient foresight to ensure that this area does not lose anything more with regard to employment.
Therefore the Minister must tell us frankly what are his intentions with regard to the exchange at Carrick-on-Shannon, how many staff will be employed there in the years 1984, 1985 and 1986. Equally he must tell us how many of the staff may become redundant and who may be offered accommodation in Sligo. He should tell us as well whether he will consider the relocation of a section of the Department to Carrick-on-Shannon to provide employment for the people who will be unable to find alternative employment if and when they are made redundant. The Minister has within his power the relocation of even the accounts section with regard to telephones, at present situated in the GPO, and which would be sufficiently large to deploy the number of people who may become redundant. Those people can be trained to carry on the work necessitated by the operation of that section from Carrick-on-Shannon. I am asking the Minister to tell us what he intends to do about the staff.
