asked the Minister for External Affairs to state (1) if it is a fact that a Mr. S. Nunan has been appointed to a post in the Office of the Saorstát Consul-General at New York, or attached in any capacity to any of our Diplomatic or Consular establishments in the United States of America; (2) if so, on what grounds was the making of a new post recommended and decided; (3) if Mr. Nunan was appointed after his qualifications had been investigated and reported upon by any Board or Committee of Selection, and, if so, what was the composition of this Board; (4) what are the qualifications of Mr. Nunan for this appointment and (5) if the creation of the new post/or the appointment of Mr. Nunan thereto were recommended in the report made by Mr. S. O'Mara.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Appointment of Consul.
Mr. Seán Nunan has been appointed to the post of Consul in the Saorstát Consulate-General at New York. The appointment took effect on the 1st November of this year. This appointment did not involve the creation of a new post. The services of the officer who previously held this post are being retained in the New York Consulate pending his transfer to another post. Mr. Nunan was an officer in the Dáil service from 1919 to 1923, during which time he served in Dublin and in the United States. He applied for reinstatement in the Civil Service to the Committee of Enquiry into the cases of civil servants who resigned or were dismissed for political reasons and was recently reinstated on the recommendation of that Committee. His appointment to the post of Consul was not considered by a selection board, as I was satisfied, in view of his previous service in the United States and his knowledge of American conditions gained during ten years' residence there, that he was particularly suited for this post. The appointment of Mr. Nunan was accordingly made under Section 6 (2) of the Civil Service Regulation Act, 1924, as amended by Section 3 of the Civil Service Regulation (Amendment) Act, 1926. Mr. O'Mara's report did not make any recommendation with regard to Mr. Nunan.
As the Vice-President has stated that this man was employed in the Dáil service from 1919 to 1923, I should like to know what Department of State he was employed in during the last six months of the period and what office he held in it.
I have some particulars of his career in the service here. I shall read all the information I have with regard to him. Mr. Nunan was a clerk in the First Dáil from January to April, 1919. From April, 1919, to June, 1919, he was Private Secretary to the President of Dáil Eireann. In June, 1919, he was sent to the United States in connection with the raising of the Dáil Loan. From December, 1919, to December, 1921, he was Registrar of the Republican Bonds Organisation. In December, 1921, he returned to Ireland. In April, 1922, he took charge of relief work and served on the White Cross Committee up to September, 1922. In September, 1922, he was suspended from duty and placed on half pay until January, 1923. From January, 1923, he received no pay, so that he may be regarded as dismissed from that date. It is understood that Mr. Nunan went to the United States in 1924.
I asked what were the qualifications of Mr. Nunan for this appointment. Is there any precise answer to that?
I have no information from the Department before me, but from my own knowledge——
That was part of the question—item 4.
Item 4 is "what are the qualifications of Mr. Nunan for this appointment?" From my own knowledge of Mr. Nunan and from my own knowledge of the posts he occupied in New York since he went there, I am quite satisfied that he is well qualified for the post. He was a successful business man and held a very responsible and important post in a large stock-broker's office in New York.
Am I to take it that his qualifications are that the Vice-President is satisfied he has qualifications?
I am satisfied he has qualifications.
But the Vice-President is unable to state what they are.
They are sufficient to qualify him for the post.
One of the qualifications was that he had been in business in New York since he left or was dismissed the service. The Vice-President did not state in what business he was.
I have known him to be a successful importer.
Of what?
Of bacon.
Did Mr. O'Mara not recommend his appointment?
No.
That is peculiar.
He was not asked.
Was there an avoidance of the putting of that question to Mr. O'Mara, seeing that he should know something about the importation of Irish bacon into the United States?
I see very well what the Deputy is at but Mr. Nunan never worked for Mr. O'Mara.
Or for any associated firm of Mr. O'Mara's?
I cannot say.
I say he did.
Was the White Cross a Department of State?
It would not be true to say that it was a Department of State, but it was a body doing work for the State—and very good work it did.
The Vice-President stated that Mr. Nunan was in the service of the Dáil until 1923. From the latest statement he read, it would appear that he spent part of that time in the White Cross. He stated that he was on half pay for a period. Was the White Cross a Department of State and was that half pay met out of State funds?
My recollection is—I speak now only from recollection—that Mr. Nunan was asked by the late Michael Collins to do that work for the White Cross and was seconded for that work.
Have the furniture and other effects "lifted" from this office been restored yet?
If the Deputy will give me notice of that question, I shall answer it.
Did the Vice-President dispatch a letter saying that some of these things had been "lifted"?