asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he is aware that the employees of the Agricultural Credit Corporation have been endeavouring unsuccessfully to induce that body to meet their representatives with a view to discussing an improvement in their rates of pay and conditions of employment; whether he is aware that the Agricultural Credit Corporation have refused to discuss the matter in question with their employees' representatives; whether he is also aware that the employees have offered to submit their claims to arbitration, and that the Agricultural Credit Corporation have refused to consider this method of determining the matter at issue; whether his Department has been urged to set up a court of inquiry under Part II of the Industrial Courts Act, 1919, for the purpose of inquiring into the complaints of the employees of the Agricultural Credit Corporation; and, if so, whether it is the intention to set up such court; or if his Department is unable or unwilling to set up such a court in this instance, he will have inquiry made into the cause and circumstances of the dispute.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Agricultural Credit Corporation Employees.
I am aware of the matters mentioned in the Deputy's question and I have been asked by the interested trade union to set up a court of inquiry under Part II of the Industrial Courts Act, 1919, for the purpose of inquiring into the demands of the employees of the Agricultural Credit Corporation. I do not consider that the facts in the case of this dispute are such as to warrant the setting up of a court of inquiry.
Would the Minister reply to the last portion of the question?
I think I have done so
No. After that question has been asked, there is a further question, which is to the effect that, if his Department is unable or unwilling to set up such a court in this instance, he will have inquiry made into the cause and circumstances of the dispute. That is apart from the setting up of a court.
I do not quite know what the Deputy has in mind in that connection. I am aware of the causes and the circumstances of the dispute.
Does the Minister not know that there is a threatened strike in connection with the Agricultural Credit Corporation? He is the Minister for Industry and Commerce and, in that capacity, is responsible for the use of conciliatory methods in connection with such disputes. Does the Minister, therefore, propose to take any action to exercise his normal function in the case of this dispute?
The normal functions of the Department will be exercised in this dispute.
Would the Minister then tell us what these normal functions of his Department are—because I and thousands of other people are interested to know what these functions are?
The normal function of the Department in such a case is to act in a conciliatory manner, as between parties to a dispute, when both parties to the dispute are willing to use the services of the Department for the purpose of conciliation.
I submit that, in this case, the Minister, or his Department, is not acting in a conciliatory manner, but in a procrastinating way. I ask the Minister whether, before a strike takes place in connection with the Agricultural Credit Corporation, he will use the powers of his Department in this matter?
The powers of my Department are useless unless both parties to a dispute are willing to accept the mediation.
Very well. We have now the case that the employees are prepared to agree to a court of inquiry or to the services of the Department in this connection. Am I to understand that the directors of the Agricultural Credit Corporation, who are nominees of the Government, are not prepared to submit this matter to arbitration?
I could not answer that.
Will the Minister say, then, who is preventing the exercise of the conciliatory powers of his Department in this instance? I should like to have an answer to that question. I think that it is a very relevant question, Sir, and I think that the Minister for Industry and Commerce would have answered it only that the Minister for Finance insists on prompting him.