asked the Minister for Finance whether he is aware that it is stated that a large number of men from other counties are given employment on the Barrow Drainage Scheme in Athy district in preference to local men, and whether, in view of the large numbers of unemployed in the area, he will give instructions to employ local men where possible.
WRITTEN ANSWERS. - BARROW DRAINAGE SCHEME WORKERS.
The question appears to be based on a misapprehension. The labourers employed on the Barrow Drainage Works generally are all local men, i.e., men who live within a short bicycle ride of their work. The gangers are designedly not local men, as it is the settled policy of the Commissioners of Public Works not to employ men as gangers in the districts in which they usually reside.