asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health whether he is aware that Patrick Daly, late Acting Town Clerk, Castleblayney, was suspended on 8th November, 1927, by Castleblayney Urban District Council; that, while the suspension has not since been removed, he has not been dismissed; that he was called to Dublin to sit for a competitive examination for the position of Town Clerk on the 27th November, 1927; that an advertisement for applicants for the position appeared in the "Irish Independent" on the 29th December, 1927, from the Local Appointments Commission; that, according to the terms of the advertisement, no qualifying or competitive examination was required; whether he will state if the qualifying examination is usually dispensed with by the Local Appointments Commission in filling such vacancies; and why no appointment was made on the result of the examination held on the 27th November, 1927.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - TOWN CLERKSHIP OF CASTLEBLAYNEY.
I am informed by the Minister for Local Government and Public Health that Patrick Daly, late Acting Town Clerk, Castleblayney, was suspended from duty on 8th November, 1927. His suspension was confirmed by the Minister for Local Government and Public Health on 12th December, 1927.
The office of Town Clerk is an office to which the Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Act, 1926, applies, and Mr. Daly was filling the post temporarily pending a recommendation from the Local Appointments Commissioners which issued on 23rd March, 1928. The permanent appointment was duly made on 2nd April, 1928.
Mr. Daly was an applicant for the vacant post. He was summoned to Dublin to sit for a written qualifying examination on 2nd December, 1927. This written test was followed by an interview before a board of selection. From the result of the examination and interview, the Local Appointments Commissioners decided that there was no candidate competent or qualified to discharge the duties attaching to the position. The position was accordingly re-advertised on 29th December, 1927. In the terms of the re-advertisement it was prescribed that candidates would be required to possess a good general education, which was tested at the interview.
It is the general practice of the Commissioners to prescribe for posts of this nature that applicants shall have attained such standard of general education as they deem necessary for the efficient discharge of the duties attaching to the office. Written qualifying examinations have been held, where necessary, to determine whether this standard has been reached by applicants, but experience has shown that this method is cumbrous and costly and involves considerable delay, and it has been found that, save in exceptional cases, the standard of education can be satisfactorily determined by oral examination at the interview. The Commissioners, of course, reserve to themselves the option of setting written tests whenever they deem such a course to be necessary or desirable.