asked the Minister for Agriculture whether he is aware that acting on the assumption that all subsisting contracts of employment between farmers and agricultural workers were automatically terminated when the Agricultural Wages Board began to function, farmers have, in fact, repudiated yearly contracts concluded some months previously; whether he is aware that when questioned in regard to the matter inspectors of his Department intimated that the cancellation of such contracts was implied in the Act establishing the board; whether the instructions to this effect were issued or given verbally to the inspectors in question; and, if no such instructions were given whether he will state what steps he intends to take in the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Farmers' Contracts.
I am not aware that the position is as indicated in the first part of the question.
As regards the other parts of the question, it is no part of the duty of the inspectors of the Department of Agriculture to concern themselves with the administration of the Agricultural Wages Act, 1936. As the Agricultural Wages Board have their own inspectors, the Department's inspectors were not instructed to express opinions or give advice in regard to wages contracts between agricultural employers and workers, and I am satisfied that they have not, in fact, done so.
The Order fixing minimum rates of wages for agricultural workers was made by the Agricultural Wages Board, which body is responsible for the enforcement of the Order and the settlement of any questions arising in connection therewith.
Would it be news to the Minister that I have a concrete case of this kind? A man who was under contract since December was dismissed from his employment, through no fault of his own, on a week's notice following a visit from an inspector. The inspector, on being questioned by the solicitor acting for this man, said it was implied in the Act that there was cancellation of the contract. The Minister said that he did not believe that such a thing had happened. I can prove that it did.
He was not an inspector of the Department of Agriculture.